Dearest Jesus, Mohammad and Nanak
Dearest Jesus, Peace and blessing upon you.
I am so sorry for everything. If there is anyone who is owed an apology, it is you. I am so sorry we have taken everything that you lived and died for and construed it to create more harm and havoc. I know you must cry every time you look back at what you left behind. We have destroyed everything that you tried to build. I am so sorry, but your life has been short of inspirational.
Dear Jesus, you died for our sins, but I’m sorry, your death was in vain. You tried to teach people to be kind to one another, to treat each neighbor like you yourself would like to be treated. The other day I heard about a priest treating a nun to a neighborly sexual abduction. Why have you died Jesus? We are still ridden with sin. People still break all the rules, we still kill others, we still lie, we still cheat, we are still jealous of others, we still hate, we are still angry. Jesus, we need you once again. Jesus, we need you to die once again.
Dearest Mohammad, peace and blessing upon you.
I am so sorry for everything. If there is anyone who is owed an apology it is you. You tried to change the world, change everyone you met, you spread the message of peace and love. I’m sorry. Your life too has been reduced to a symbol of havoc. The Holy Qur’an is now commercialized in America as a symbol of terrorism. Your life is exampled, your words are quoted, your beauty is tainted as people who profess to follow your leadership take up arms against innocent civilians. Girls are killed because they are passionate about the freedoms they will never discover. Men are shot as they accidentally break curfews to bring food for families late into the night. Mohammad, we have failed to be the peaceful people you tried to lead. Mohammad, we are not Muslims.
Dearest Guru Nanak Dev Ji, peace and blessing upon you,
I am so sorry for everything. If there is anyone who is owed an apology it is you. We have destroyed everything you stood for. We have made a mockery of your life. Reading about your basic principles in life makes me shake my head to it all. Your teachings of equality, your concepts of oneness… where are they now? Where is the equality? You denounced all forms of inequality, the caste system, the gender biases, the social classes, the concept of oneness… where is it now Guru Nanak? We have created more inequality than existed in your time, we have Jatts, Bhappas, Khatris, who refuse to let their offspring marry into the other’s caste. Your followers have built the exact caste system you spent your life destroying. What did your life amount to? We have Khalsas, and Singhs, and Cuttsardhs, we have the rich and the poor, we have Sikhs, Muslims, Hindus, Christians… all hating each other because of their different backgrounds, their different upbringing, their different predecessors. Guru Nanak, I am so sorry, but your life too is short of inspirational.
Dearest Jesus, Come Back. Mohammad, Nanak, Moses, come back, we need you now more than ever. Why, Why exist in a time when all is in flux, when people are easily persuaded, when it is easier to show people the light because of all the darkness that exists?
Why do it at all? Why Jesus, only ensure that your message spreads to the Christians. And Moses, why, I thought all of humankind was chosen, why is that only Jews have rights to your wonderful teachings. Why Nanak, are your teachings of oneness only recited on the lips of a few million called Sikhs? Mohammad, I don’t understand, your teachings, your way of living, why is it only understood by the select few who follow your Sunna. Why do your deeds and words not transcend human built boundaries? Why did your messages not reach all corners of the globe?
Why? God, why do such a thing? Why send different messengers to different parts of your creation at different times. They all advertise the same message.. but your followers are ethnocentric. Did you not know what a despicable creation you had molded? Why God, instead of creating a humanity, have you created sub teams, each with their own agenda? Each member of Team A believing that their Team and its leader is the chosen one. Each member of Team A believing that its better than Team B. All is one, but why the separate Teams? Greater brotherhood and bonding… but only between members; no compassion or understanding for the outsiders?
I guess you knew what you were doing. Testing us all along to see if we really understood your messages. Each religion recites it, regurgitates it, drums up cheers for it but never really practices it. God is one, all is one… written in every book. Yet we continue to kill our brothers. Not all is one, Americans and Afghans, Muslims and Jews, the rich and the poor. Far from one.
Do it now, send us back into extinction as you did with the dinosaurs. Bring out another breed, a more intelligent breed, a more compassionate breed. You are still a step away from your ultimate creation.
Jesus, Mohammad, Nanak, Moses.. thank you for your valiant efforts… but we need you now, when people have convinced themselves that they understand your teachings, when people are convinced that they know what life is all about. Come back and teach us now. Save us now.
— Chughzy
As I walked through the streets of Manhattan this weekend I was offered food, hugs, love, God, and beauty. It was truly beautiful. Picture the financial district still smoldering from the hell that burns in angry men, transcended by the light that flickers from millions of candles offering vigil to loved ones that have finally found peace. Picture all of us, led in a rendition of Amazing Grace by two beautiful African American women. Picture a New York City where the rich and the poor, the Muslims and the Jews, the cops and the loiterers are all hugging each other, feeding each other, holding hands and praying with (for) each other. Picture an American Muslim man calling to prayer in front of a crowd of weeping Jews that only a moment ago wanted nothing more than vengeance. No-one else understands Arabic, no-one else needs to. Love is the only language that is spoken. This weekend I cried.. not for the memory of ones left behind but for a nation… a world, where we all hold hands and pray together. This weekend everybody cried. I saw love in His eyes.
People were scrawled over floors to capture their thoughts on these flags of peace. I walked by and was touched by the pouring of emotion on these notes. Writing has been an emotional release to so many people during this time, afraid that these biblical writings were going to be locked away forever or worse.. destroyed, I tried to capture some of the thoughts that stood out for me. The following are limited clips of notes I came across. 
h thing as “nation,” ours or theirs. We are human beings living on planet earth. We share the air with the person who lives next door as well as the person who lives across the globe; we share the oceans to drink and cleanse; we share the earth as a source of good. Destroying any part of our planet leads to the destruction of the whole. Please understand that retaliation in any form of violence contributes directly to our demise as a species, and to the extinction of all living things. Please speak out against hatred and violence when and wherever you can. We must pull together to save the planet. Do whatever you can to help our brothers and sisters understand: the smallest violent act is too large yet no act of compassionate awareness is too small.
