Lost
I got a reply from my high school buddy. He sounded like he was quoting a bunch of KKK/Neo-Nazi literature. According to his reply, "The minorities have taken over this country" and "the reality is that you have to be careful about practicing your religion openly if you're a christian." I wrote a long reply to try to educate him about the Muslim beliefs and how mistaken he was about many of the things he said, when I realized that it wasn't going to work. He is too far gone. He twisted everything I said in my last email and convinced himself that I had been fooled by some great conspiracy. I don't know if my friend was secretly like this before or if the events of this last year made him fill up with hate so much that these groups were able to recruit him, but he does not sound like the same guy I grew up with. My heart is very heavy now. I guess it is fitting that I should have these conversations with him on MLK day. I got to see first hand that King's fight still needs to be fought.
"The truth is the only weapon we need." -H.H. The Dalai Lama