why i don't CAIR

tsunami relief... day before yesterday... i got a call on my cell. it was one of the leaders of the masjid on 183rd street. he asked me come to the masjid at 4:30pm. it was very important. there was to be a special prayer for the tsunami victims, some fundraising, "AND CHANNEL 10 IS COMING!"... so he said we needed as many people as we can get. he called me around 2 o-clock: "i know its short notice" he said... when i got to the masjid, channel 10(ABC) was there, so was channel 4(CBS), 6(NBC), 7(FOX) and 23 (Telemundo), all with the big telescopic antennas ready to broadcast. and the newspapers weren't left out. wow!!... what a turn out!... i entered the masjid and found... nothing... nothing was happening?!?... i figure this is what happened: CAIR had attempted to round up as many imams it could find on short notice and stage a salat al ghayb then line them up and have them say a few words. it was just a friggin media event. my first question to Altaf, the CAIR rep, was "why did we not do this at isha?, there are so few people here, why now?" i knew the answer before i asked, we'd get the 6pm newscast as well as the 11pm. SO WHAT!???!... at least it would be a real time when people come to the masjid to pray. not friggin 4:30 on a workday... Altaf knows the media here. he feels the media coverage wouldn't be as good. and this after all was a friggin media event. any sort of planning for meaningful action seemed to be happening randomly in small hushed circles of men standing around waiting for the salat to begin and most of it centered around these uncles thinking more about the media than the action itself. "why don't we have a fundraising dinner with $100 tickets if we get 200 people to come, and the media..." ... - i said that it was much more important that we do something where anyone who wants to give would be able to give. a $100 plate dinner will leave many people out. those 200 can be approached at any event and they will be more than happy to give the $100. i feel more and more that i am being seen as a crackpot by these leaders, they will eventually stop inviting me if i keep disagreeing with their stale ideas... O Allah give my patience!... eventually we have the salat al ghayb, the imams say their words, all of them said something to the tune of "test from God" Altaf passes out a very helpful list prepared by CAIR regarding charities that we can dontate to, and we mill about for 10 minutes waiting for maghrib salat, the media and the attendees are invited to have some tea while we wait.... i used the opportunity to approach a few news reporters. i'm not surprised to see that all of them are pretty blonde women. i tell them that i'm a teacher at the sunday school at this mosque and if they have any questions about the prayer or the mosque, i'd be happy to help them understand what they will be seeing during the prayer. the reporter from NBC wanted to speak to the imam after maghrib prayer ended. not knowing that people were starting the sunnah rakats all around her. the woman scrambled around the bowing and prostrating that was starting to happen all around her, returning to the back wall where it was safe. i told her that people are now doing some extra prayers and it would end momentarily. in the mean time she asked me a few questions about why i was here. how i found out about this. what i felt about the tsumani. i've forgotten what i said to her now. but i know what i didn't say to her. what was really on my mind!... this is just a friggin media event! peace.