(YellowTimes.ORG) - Robert Fisk, a respected journalist with Britain's newspaper The Independent, was attacked and injured by a mob of refugees in Afghanistan. Below is an open letter to Robert Fisk by George Lewandowski; Content Director of YellowTimes.ORG.

Dear Mr. Fisk,

Many of us are indebted to you for providing us with a vision of the real history that is unfolding behind our government's grand display of flags and bunting. If we lose you, in the line of duty, we will suffer a new bout of blindness.

For that reason, that purely selfish reason, I hope that you will be a little less cavalier about motoring unprotected through Purgatory.

Having gotten that off my chest, I now wish to take you to task for something you wrote while recounting your ordeal on the Afghan border. You wrote: "If I was an Afghan refugee in Kila Abdullah, I would have done just what they did. I would have attacked Robert Fisk. Or any other Westerner I could find. "

You do yourself a disservice with such a statement. Perhaps, more importantly, by your example you excuse the mob and the rest of mankind should it choose to sink into a perpetual state of barbarism.

I realize that the mob of homeless refugees was provoked, but human beings do have the capacity to rise above such extreme provocation. It is not impossible to imagine such people, and I imagine that Robert Fisk would be just such a person. Imagining such a person does not condemn the mob, but it preserves the premise that we can be something better that the thugs who rule our world.

To suggest that you would behave no better than the mob, in reversed circumstances, is to excuse the mob. Bush excuses the mob. Sharon excuses the mob. We can do better

The "Muslim saint," the lone man you described in your account, the one who risked himself to rescue you, did better. He chose courage over cowardice, generosity over selfishness, and reason over rage.

Likewise, you did not strike out in irrational fury at this Muslim who must have looked a lot like your attackers. You demonstrated that it is possible for members of the human race to discern right from wrong, to distinguish helping hands from flying fists, and to remain decent, even in the face of extreme pain and suffering. You recognized decency in the eyes of another man, even as you feared for your life and your own eyes were filling with blood.

You did it. The "Muslim saint" did it. The mob could have done it but chose to feed its rage instead. We must embrace the higher standard, and not excuse the lower one. We must support standards of decency, rather than supporting any group of people.

Today’s victims are merely tomorrow’s mob. On September 11th, America was the victim.

At least 90% of Americans have subsequently given Bush a blank check to kill people in symbolic retaliation. This is the mob of the majority. This mob is epitomized by the cowardly "patriots" who gather around the coffee bar in my neighborhood McDonald's, fantasizing about how they would inflict pain upon Jane Fonda, John Walker, Wen Ho Lee and the whole cast of Bush’s cartoon villains if only our government would "turn us loose".

You can’t excuse the mob of Afghanistan’s powerless and defeated, without conferring legitimacy upon the mob of America’s omnipotent and arrogant.

We can behave better than Bin Laden, better than George Bush and better than the blind mob that bludgeoned you in the middle of the road.

Israel's Jews were once the victims, like your Afghan refugees. They were the pathetic underdogs of World War II. Now they have turned the tables and have become the jack booted thugs of the Middle East. They have become what they once despised.

Embrace the best in people. Count yourself among the rational grown-ups. Count yourself among the people who strive to discern the difference between justice and vengeance.

There is a peace movement in Israel. There are Jews whose sense of justice and decency has not been defeated by their fears. These are decent people do not applaud and cheer when Palestinian children are ritually sacrificed to pay for sins inherited from their dead uncles.

These decent people are the grownups of Israel. They have planned a peace vigil in from of the American Embassy in Tel Aviv tomorrow (Dec 11th). There are alternatives to Sharon’s mob pleasing version of the “final solution”. Embrace the alternatives, not the mobs.

I believe that decency will eventually prevail. The world will eventually understand that peace is only possible when human rights and the rule of law replace the childish religious fanaticisms of Jews, Muslims, and Christians alike. Allah does not bless the mob, not even the American mob.

We will survive the current outbreak of stupidity, but to do so, we must maintain a stubborn faith in ourselves, a faith that we can choose to remain human, decent, and just, against all odds.

Continue to set good examples Mr. Fisk. Your good examples improve our odds.

George Lewandowski encourages your comments: glewandowski@YellowTimes.ORG"