We went to the Sikh (pronounced “sick“) candlelight vigil on Friday in Southington, Conn., and it was moving and hard and sad and beautiful, all at once. There was much talk about Sikh teachings of peace, and love for one another.
One young man who came to the vigil holds a Sikh Awareness Day every year at his service station in Norwich. This year, it was in June. He tries to pick a time of year when people are traveling, and might come by his station on West Town Street. By way of explanation, he said:
Just to let you know in our religion we never tell anyone to convert…with Sikh awareness day, we just wanted to educate people who we are.
I personally believe that if you follow the religion you are born and if I follow mine, one day we both will meet at same point.
Yep. I believe that, too.
There were probably 300-350 people at the vigil, not all of them Sikhs and not all of them wearing head coverings, though the Sikhs provided headscarves and bandanas to any who came without them (like my husband, and don’t think I didn’t get all Church Lady on him for that).
While people held candles, a steady stream of speakers went to the microphone. When Dr. M. Saud Anwar spoke — he’s a Muslim and the vigil was held near sundown, when he could have been somewhere enjoying his iftar — he asked how many in the crowd were not Sikhs. I started to raise my hand and he said, “Today, we are all Sikhs.”
Yep. I believe that, too.
Prayers for the Sikhs, then. That would be all of us.
I thought it was telling that the man with the poster put Joplin — where a Muslim mosque burned down a week ago — before Wisconsin, site of the awful Sikh gurdwara (temple) shooting, the reason we came together for a vigil. Maybe I’m reading too much into this — maybe he was just listing crime scenes alphabetically — but I thought it telling that the man put others’ pain before his own.
We are on Day 7 of the Hillbilly Watch, during which those of us blessed to be hillbilly stand waiting for that someone — and there is a someone — who knows something about the mosque burning to do the right thing, and tell the FBI or the Jasper County sheriffs what they know. You can raise all the money in the world (and you can hold multiple vigils) but you must also hold accountable those who would do harm.
