Know the enemy

I taught a class today for a Concealed Carry Handgun Certification, the student was an Imam. A series of unfortunate events culminated in a one on one class. He is an American convert to Islam. I have previously taught one of his Mosque. Both of these men, to all appearances, agree that the current method of war carried out by the radicals is seriously wrong, on every level. They are my friends, we have much common ground.

One of the precepts of Sun Tzu is to know your enemy as you know yourself. I am working on it.

These are reasonable men, they profess their faith, they study the Quran, they show no leaning toward mayhem. Each has mentioned the mindset being different here than in the Middle East. I’m not surprised. I mentioned the mental model carried over from the seventh century, and they agree.

An educational day for us all.