We just returned from a week in Malaysia, a Muslim country. We’ve spent time in several Muslim countries: Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Jordan. And we’ll be in Qatar in a few hours.

There is so much harm being done in the world by American political demonizing of Muslims. The harm shows up in Americans as unreasonable fear and suspicion and prejudice. To a lesser but still significant extent there is some of this same prejudice against Muslims expressed in many European countries. The harm also shows up in the consciousness of Muslims who mostly do not understand this American centered hatred toward them, but nevertheless feel the pain of that negative bias.

We are finding that we have to fight through these biases to reach out in kindness to Muslims, to start conversations, to ask questions, to learn customs and beliefs. But after making the effort we find the rewards of sharing warm hearted experiences with people who we have so much in common with.

Everyone wants to be happy. Everyone wants to be loved. Everyone wants to have a peaceful and healthy environment for their families. Everyone wants to learn about and understand the world around them. Everyone wants to live free of fear. Everyone wants to feel secure.

Charlotte is particularly good at engaging with all kinds of people. This is what is at the core of citizen diplomacy. It will take millions and millions of positive, compassionate personal interactions between Muslims and us Europeans and North Americans to undo the damage that is spewing out from the American administration.

It is our hope that all of us use every opportunity to heal connections between people that seem different. We should not let hating and prejudiced people divide us. The people of the world do not have enemies. We are united. Those who support wars, those who support economic slavery, those who try to divide us by race or gender or religion or anything else, those are the ones that need to be removed from power.