Which world will it be? Fear or light?

On a recent flight from San Francisco to JFK I changed my row at the last minute. No sooner was I seated than a dark-skinned man appeared at my side. He was casually dressed in jeans and a sweater, looked about 40, and with soft, dark eyes gestured toward the empty window seat. I let him in, said hello and, when I heard a foreign accent in his reply, asked where he was from. “Pakistan,” he said. I asked him if he had a religion. “Of course.”  I said, “May I ask?” “I’m a Muslim,” he replied.

I was raised Jewish, currently worship as a Christian, and am just as apt to read the Vedic literature of India as I do the Bible. I have had a number of conversations with Muslim taxi drivers in New York and elsewhere, mostly about the superficial topics like the weather or traffic or how long they have been in the U.S. But recent events seemed to demand that I take the opportunity to get some reactions from this gentleman.

His name is Irfan, he lives in Karachi and comes to the U.S. every couple of months on business — he works for a company that markets jeans to big chains. We showed each other pictures of our kids, his seven and nine, mine older and younger. We talked about our mutual sadness at the violence in the world, the brutal murders in Paris and San Bernardino, and our hope that our children would be able to live in a world free of terrorism and hatred.

It struck me that we should write a song about this, and he was instantly excited. It wasn’t the first time I had written a song on a plane, but it was certainly going to be the most thought-provoking. The substance of our song, still in progress, is this: we come from different countries, we worship in different ways, but underneath we are pretty much the same. Irfan and I are two individuals among millions, even billions, but we agree on basic issues: violence and hate-speech is deplorable, it is not sanctioned by our religions, and we need to do something about it.

We filled three pages with our notes in English and Urdu, both of us agreeing that the lyrics should contain phrases about peace in our own languages and others. I wrote the beginning of a little tune in my computer, used music software to arrange it for a small ensemble, and played it for him. He was thrilled; we hope to finish the song very soon.

New friends, we parted at JFK, and are continuing our work through email. Here is an excerpt of what he wrote to me upon his return to Pakistan.

From Irfan:

We share the ground we live on, we share skies, we share the air, we share the specie, we share our ancestors. Why can’t we also share peace? Why must geographical distances be the reason of disassociation, why do boundaries part us which we drew ourselves, why difference of opinion be the justification to hurt others.

Memory and imagination are two most wonderful gifts that we as human beings have. One enables us to peep into our past to review our deeds and analyze them to learn what to do and what not to. The latter allows us to see what our future is going to be or how we want it to be. Combining these two gifts and shaping the future is what separates us from other species making us the supreme and strongest on earth. This is how we evolved and took over other species in terms of quality and stability of life on our planet. All this started when the ancient caveman realized the concept of family and how to take care of others in the family.

TODAY, when I close my eyes and imagine the future, I get scared because the way things are lined up, the shape of future does not seem to be charming at all. Will my kids be able to live as happily and safely as I am? This is the biggest question mark that we all have in our minds and we all need to do something about it now. 

Let’s talk the differences, let’s not hate if we cannot love someone, let’s decorate our home with the lighting of love, let’s fill the cracks in our home together, let’s fight all the dangers together, let’s listen to each other, let’s be compassionate to our neighbors, let’s smile together, let’s be the cavemen who realized to live together, let’s be human again.

Let’s hand over this beautiful home to our children at least in same shape that we received from our elders if not better.

•  •  •

I posted a little poem about our meeting on my Facebook page. Here’s the end:

Just one small step toward a world where people can feel free.

Do we hide in fear, or walk in sunlight? Which world will it be?

It’s up to us. It’s up to us. It’s up to us.

Donald Sosin is a musician who lives in Lakeville with his family. He will be accompanying silent films at MoMA throughout January. Irfan Aslam Khan lives in Karachi, Pakistan.