Book excerpt: So Close, Yet So Far Apart--Stopping the Abuse of Others is a book that shares the cardinal eight powerful, yet simple ways we can apply today to begin handling difficult challenges, such as tyrants' lust of power, religious gurus' destructive views, human idiosyncrasies, illiteracy, and poverty to make life meaningful. It discusses the principle of--different realities-so that we can understand, accept, and respect other people, cultures, and religions. Author Syed H. Jaffar also points out the profound similarities in each major religion[s golden rule which asks people to put greater emphasis on doing good deeds toward fellow human beings than on worshipping God. This profound resemblance among religions and our shared ancestor--Abraham--should make us so close, says Jaffar, yet, because of the calamity of the abuse of others, we have become so far apart. Once we have truly earned the right to be counted among great human beings as depicted in The Life Model, Jaffar affirms, the love we feel for people, the respect we have for other cultures and religions, and the compassion we have for our own religion's uniqueness will increase dramatically. Hence, we will gain inner and lasting peace for our ultimate goal of treasuring life.