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The gentle givers
When You Walk Into Azar's Oriental Rugs in downtown Birmingham, Michigan, there is a feeling of light and space, even at night. At first you think it might be because of the very high ceilings, large windows, and the multiple fluorescent fixtures, combines with richly colored rugs stacked low and hanging on the walls.
But somehow, these don't explain your intangible, yet difinite, awareness of peace and welcome. Then you notice the smiles and reserved alertness of the several young men who vault from sitting on the piles of rugs to welcome you. As unusual as this is for a commercial business, there's a special purity here.
About the author
Tom Black is a contributing editor.

January 20, 2003 issue
View Issue-
Once green with prejudice
Warren Bolon
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letters
with contributions from Annette Plikerd, Susan J. Ehart
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items of interest
with contributions from Nailene Chou Wiest, Bob Harvey, Gigi Wood
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'Love is the question and the answer'
By Kim Shippey Senior Writer
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BREAKING THROUGH WALLS of PREJUDICE
with contributions from Marta Greenwood, Quinci Coates, Yolanda Nava, Tony Lobl, Frank Magwegwe
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The golden rule versus prejudice
By David Degler
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The search for peace in Jerusalem
By Kim Shippey Senior Writer
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The gentle givers
Text And Photographs By Tom Black
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Atonement—more than fiction?
By Barbara M. Vining Contributing Editor
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The afterglow of Christmas
By David Horn
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Talk radio: healing words—not hateful words
By Bill Dawley
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Stages of spiritual growth: healing and progressing
Joan Knowles
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A healing of guilt and of injury
Rosemarie Sauer