Human Norms

Life has an overwhelming significance for many. So many have gained and so many have lost. Each one of us lives his own world worrying about his own future, family and well being. However, we are unaware of what goes on in the lives of others. Walking down the city streets, I wonder what each person passing by is thinking and the future that holds for this person and the people around him. Why are our lives so seperated from one another? We may know and talk to the person but each person understands that there are issues to be discussed in the open with others and issues that should not be discussed publicly.


In this crowded environment, many of us who work, study and have a family are clinging to the with trying to catch up with our lives or more rather expectations from the developing society but we realize that the more isolated we are, the more distant we become from one another and this causes higher levels of concerns over time which influences the fate each society will end up going through. Given examples, take a look at the current situation in Iraq, the major factions of Iraqis have become so seperated from each others' affairs that even the city of Baghdad which once held a large part of diversity have now divided into suburbs depending on its factions that gained control of the area in the recent years. So many ethnic and local communities have isolated themselves from others even when they may live in the same city. Each person seems to have become on his own as an individual, seperate from the culture of family-hood and more so this is seen occuring within a family. A single family who left their cultural homeland have become so segregated that they are rarely able to spend a fair amount of time together unless if it is after which work and chores have been completed and if one's lucky to have spare time on their hands. If this lifestyle exists within a family, can one imagine how extreme it can become in the overall community? We need to bridge this gap that continues to widen before its too late to control this matter.

The segregation between communities has become a growing problem in other countries and living in a small country like New Zealand we see how this can really influence the stability and rights of people in a nation. Having said this, we remember how France banned the Hijabs in schools, how the Lebanese in Australia were rioted against for their inappropriate behavior, how cultural and religious communities have isolated themselves from the rest of the other communities and are now termed 'dangerous' because of concern people may have of them becoming potential people of creating mass blood-shed just because of the the name they hold that has been tainted from the media.



Look at ourselves, and reminding ourselves of these events and how appreciative we are of what citizens have offered us (with their support, financial help and advice), we should nevertheless keep away from letting the widespread tension between communities reach New Zealand just like other countries have faced. We are a nation so far from the chaos and we have great potential with the increasing diversity and developments to change this common norm before it is too late. As the world view the "Muslims" at the top of the headlines for some years now, the current Muslim youth in New Zealand with the support of the New Zealand government have agreed to help contribute their fundings and agreements to the activities organised by the Muslim youth to educate and expand the knowledge and opportunities given for the very young generation who have lived most of their lives in New Zealand and those older who can use their prior knowledge and skills in practice. This step forward can promote the religious and cultural freedom under legal rights through the increase of skills and cooperation within the Muslim community and also with other New Zealand communities. Establishing this building block of a strong Muslim community, with the will of the government, the rights of Muslims and ethnic people will be firmed and respected and our understanding and preparation for making this country our home will become greater. We are ought to be ready for serving our own communities as well as others in equality because no matter how things change for the better or worse, we are required to help the young become educated of the world and of their background and also change the peoples' outlooks of how they see of Muslims and ethnic people from the Middle East and Asia. Through this strength, like the organisations have of WorldVision,Save the children, orRedCross, we can get closer to reaching the goals of helping the poor in war-torn countries ranging from Iraq, Afghanistan, Africa, Palestine and so forth. Westerners ask Muslims where their help can be viewed, why is it just the westerners who seem to help the poor, they ask? The concern people have of the refugees, the lack of health, education in many areas are thoughts the Muslims here are working in changing it whether it may be awareness, a day of fundraising or even the thought of helping is what counts these days. With this drive, we can look forward that there will always be hope for the better.