Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Pray For Peace And Love

We will never know why Friday night was chosen to launch the attacks in Paris. It could be because it was the start to the weekend hence ensuring maximum damage, it could be to take advantage of the crowds dining out or meeting up to enjoy some music or watching football, it could be because it was Friday the 13th. But what we do know is that it doesn’t make sense. Violence and atrocity never make sense no matter how you try to twist it and if someone resorts to violence because he himself was a victim of it, well, I’ll say that two wrongs do not make a right. But I cannot judge because I was never subjected to something so evil or violent to make me react in such a drastic way. And before you accuse me of condoning such an act, stop right there. I’m not and will never condone such a violent senseless act. But I do think that the attackers may have their own crazy twisted logic or reason or agenda for it.

And so it leaves a scar on the rest of us, on the human race. We may think in our safe cocoon or plain ignorance or lazy observance of the world that what didn’t happen to us wouldn’t hurt or affect us. But it does. The 11 September attacks may not have affected the majority of is directly but it does affect all travellers to this day and well into the foreseeable future as we have to declare our liquid, aerosol or gel (LAGs) if we plan to carry them on board. The recent attacks at the end of last week mean that some of us will always be bit hesitant about stepping out, a bit reluctant about enjoying ourselves, and a tad worried because we never know if we might be targeted next. I say attacks because there is violence almost everywhere these days on an almost daily basis. There was an attack in Beirut just a day before the attacks in Paris but it didn’t get coverage. Why? The people in Gaza, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, the Rohingyas, they all face violence, hardship and indignity almost every day and yet their plight don’t get as much coverage if at all.

What is also disturbing it that one of the perpetrators had a ticket to the France-Germany match and attempted to enter the stadium. I don’t know about you but whenever I went to the Grove to watch a match on my rare visits there. I never thought there could be someone in the crowd who had plans to hurt or kill others. This would never ever cross my mind. I’m not trying to trivialise the attacks in other parts of Paris or anywhere else for that matter but as a football fan who occasionally goes to watch a live match, I can’t help but think of the effects on the sport (yes, we football fans are guilty of making football more important than what it actually is in the grand scheme of things because it gives us escapism from real life but the hype and whatnot are what makes us the fans we are. And France will be the host country for Euro 2016 in seven months’ time.


Events like this leave us shaken and stirred and instil fear in us. We become a bit more wary and suspicious of others. But we must not let them win. Terrorism has no faith or face and knows no boundaries. It is thus even more imperative for us not to lose our humanity and tolerance just because others are keen to spread hate. We should not let these minority who do not represent the majority of us intimidate us. So how can we respond? We can be braver, by being kinder and more compassionate and understanding of the life we still have to live and as such try to be a better person, sibling, child, parent, member of community and servant of God. We can love and spread love beyond our family and friends to include strangers because clearly love is in short supply otherwise why else would one want to kill others? We can take better care of ourselves by living a healthier lifestyle. Our short fragile life is what we have left so surely it makes sense to love it with an open mind and heart, tolerance, optimism, faith and trust.