To the editor:

What a well-balanced (and fair, I might add) piece Leonard Pitts did on the Muslims’ protestations of the cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad as a “bomber” (“Closed society hampers understanding,” Journal-World, Feb. 11). If there is one thing we Americans are into it is irony – thanks to our cartoonists and editorial writers. You are continually reminding us of our prejudices and bigotries – so easily seen in “the other guy” while we remain blind to the “mote” in our own eye.

I spent some 16 years in a community that had been heavily populated by immigrants from Europe. Parochialism, as a way of protecting “their own,” was rampant until they discovered they could no longer prevent or control the infiltration of those “outside” the walls (people and ideas). It is a hard lesson to learn, especially for the religious leaders who are given (or assume) power to define, proscribe and espouse the beliefs and practices of a given community.

We, in America, have much to learn about managing change and newness, and should find sympathy in our hearts for the struggle with change facing the Muslims of the world. May we stop killing each other in the process.

Bob Pattie,

Lawrence