Second Opinion / COMMENTARY FROM OTHER NEWSPAPERS : THE PAKISTAN LINK : American Muslims Should Volunteer Here

While we justifiably worry about foreign policy issues, it is also time for us to turn our energies to domestic U.S. issues. While it is mind-boggling for those of us who have come here to see the concern over the economy when the countries we have left behind and “abandoned” are literally starving, as in the case of Somalia, the fact is that we have made a choice. That choice is to raise our families here. . . .

American Muslims have to look beyond their own financial well-being within this society and get involved in making this society better. Our mosques should open up shelters for the homeless and soup kitchens. We can “adopt” newly immigrated families and help them get started. For every disadvantaged child in Pakistan that we may be helping through financial aid we should help a minority child in the inner cities here.