In times of conflict emerges the best and worst of the human spirit
I was watching a video by Phillip DeFranco today -- known by his username sxephil on YouTube -- when he mentioned this particular news story. Now, typically, Phil is a funny guy; he takes the news and makes it "interesting," usually by satirizing the stupid people and calling out the BAMFs on their awesome actions. Well, today, he brought up this story that moved me to tears:
It was a photo that someone in the midst of the Egypt protests took of Christians protecting Muslims so that they could perform their daily prayer.
I'm sure that if you haven't been living under a rock for the past, I dunno, five thousand years or so, you would know that Christians and Muslims don't usually get along. I'm speaking as a whole, not individually speaking by the way. The relationship between these two religions has been rife with conflict. And so it is absolutely amazing that these two groups can put aside their differences, even if only for a moment. Those, I believe, are true Christians, rather than the Bible thumpers I see and hear that condemn others to hell for one reason or another on a daily basis. That they would be willing to sacrifice their own safety -- as the Christians literally became human shields to protect the Muslims while they prayed -- for a practice that they do not share, for people they do not know... it really renews my faith in humanity.
Unfortunately, it also saddens me that it took this magnitude of conflict in order to bring out the best of people. There's an old saying that goes, "Conflict can bring out the worst, as well as the best, of the human spirit." I can only hope that the best will come out victorious over the worst.