I’m struggling with life at the moment. Not just individually… or locally… but globally.
The world can be a dark place. There’s been a lot of horrible things lately, foreign and domestic. I’ve been thinking a lot about terrorism for obvious reasons. I want to believe that those that would commit such atrocities may have a moment, but we the people have history and the future on our side.
I cannot fathom what it was like to be in Manchester this week. Or in any of the far-too-many towns, cities, communities that have endured the pain and suffering inflicted by crazed terrorists hellbent on attacking the world with all-too-often regularity.
It may be naive of me to say this then. What do I really know? But it’s something I think needs to be considered:
Those that seek to instill terror, hate, and fear win only when we are silenced, when we cringe and cower and hide and mute our voices.
In many ways, this recent attack at a concert venue seemed to target women who were finding their voices, standing up for themselves, striving to be equal to the task of life. We all need to take a moment to mourn those we have lost, souls of men, women, and children. We all need to take a moment to mourn the loss of innocence, what we have once again been forced to give way to harsh realities.
But then we must rise up and be heard once again.
I don’t know the music of that night very well; what I’ve heard isn’t necessarily to my musical tastes but my general view is that anything that helps the world come together is better than that which seeks to drive us apart.
Take a moment… and then let your voice be heard once more. For evil and villainy and terror only wins if they knock us down and we do not get back up, if we do not fight for equality and compassion. They win if we give in to hate, anger, and fear.
My words here are reductive. They are naive and innocent and perhaps too much a notion of “kumbaya” fantasy that evil can be thwarted by striving to be better. But the alternative, to be silent or to strike out in violence in retaliation with short term notions of justice — that does not give adequate regard for long-term peace and success.
It’s quicker, easier, more seductive to seek isolation or bloodlust revenge. But it is not better. To be better, to make a change for the good, that’s hard. But it is life. And life demonstrates something terrorists don’t understand. That by their striking at some, they only make us unite as one.
Take a moment. Then get back up. I’m with you. You’re with me. We are one.