with all the incendiary news about Khalil Gibran middle school,i thought i'd post

[w8liftinglady]

a few quotes by Khalil(a Christian)
( link to the story
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/09/04/arabic.school/ )

A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle.

Cast aside those who liken godliness to whimsy and who try to combine their greed for wealth with their desire for a happy afterlife.

I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit.

If the other person injures you, you may forget the injury; but if you injure him you will always remember.

Life without liberty is like a body without spirit.

Many a doctrine is like a window pane. We see truth through it but it divides us from truth.

more here
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/k/kahlil_gibran.html

[spoony]

1. Thanks for this. I had to go look

'cause I hadn't heard of the news. Don't understand the big deal (hell, Michigan has had Arabic-speaking schools for years). Great quotes though.

[w8liftinglady]

2. we had a copy of "The Prophet" as far back as I can remember

it is a beautiful work of art.

[TahitiNut]

6. I don't think anyone who didn't read it actually went through "the 60s."

Like "The Little Prince," "The Prophet" was (and is) required reading. Perhaps "Jonathon Livingston Seagull" comes third.

[madfloridian]

3. That prissy woman on CNN outraged me.

Every one of Democrats needs to start speaking up for moderate muslims.

Remember how Norquist said that extreme muslims guarded the doors of the white house and moderates could not get in?

And someone else spoke out this week. Others need to do so.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=1722193&mesg_id=1722193

It is getting out of control.

[w8liftinglady]

4. OMG-I wanted to snatch her bald-typical neocon self-righteousness

[madfloridian]

7. She held her lips like "the church lady" on TV

That little prissy look.

Hubby said who the hell does she think she is?

[Cobalt Violet]

5. I wonder if there will be gender apartheid at this school.

I hope not.

[KoKo]

8. "The Prophet" is an incredible book of poetry...no matter where you come from

but an Israeli I was dating way back got mortally offended that I sent him some of Gibran's Poetry in a letter.

I had no idea..I was an Episcopalian from the South and loved his poetry but didn't realize that he was on a list of poets that was banned. I didn't know...I was only 22...and it was way back in the 60's.

[Alameda]

9. Kahlil Gibran was from a Christian background

but may have been a Baha'i,for what it's worth...
http://www.kahlil.org/bahai.html
Maybe some of these idiots will actually read some of his works what with all the publicity.....although they would probably be afraid of being brainwashed.

Much of Gibran's writings deal with Christianity, mostly condemning the corrupt practices of the Eastern churches and their clergies during that era. His poetry is notable for its use of formal language, as well as insights on topics of life using spiritual terms.

Gibran also inspired John F. Kennedy's often quoted sentence in the 1961 inaugural address with his 1925 article, "The New Frontier," which contained the epigrammatic : "Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country? If you are the first, then you are a parasite; if the second, then you are an oasis in a desert."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khalil_Gibran

One thing good that may come out of this is more people maybe exposed to his works.

[HamdenRice]

10. A little local insight about this badly reported story: The real dispute

There were two sources of opposition to the school. There have always been a small number of bigots who said the school would be a terrorist training ground or madrassa. But the much bigger group of opponents were the parents of the school where the arabic language program was to be located, namely, P.S. 282 in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Park Slope is one of the wealthiest and whitest sections of Brooklyn, and one local elementary school is P.S. 282. But it wasn't the wealthy white families who opposed the school, because most of their kids go to private school. P.S. 282 became something of an informal magnet school for all the most ambitious, middle class, working class and poor African American, Latino and Asian families in the surrounding neighborhoods, such as Sunset Park and Crown Heights, as well as the poorer parts of Park Slope. P.S. 282 was a like black, brown, yellow bronx high school of science for baby geniuses in the middle of Park Slope.

So P.S. 282 was one of the best elementary schools in Brooklyn and one of the few routes that ambitious people of color could get a first rate public education in the borough. The parents were outraged that the Education Department was going to put middle schoolers in the already fully utilized elementary school, draining space and resources.

The parents of 282 organized, and the DOE backed down, and put the Arabic language school in a high school in Boerum Hill.

Hence the only opposition left were the nutter bigots, and the plan went forward. The press did not do a very good job of reporting what the dispute was really about.

You can get an inside view from this P.S. 282 parents blog:

http://282parents.blogspot.com/2007/03/khalil-gibran.html