I was at my son’s 6th Birthday party when I heard about the horrific attacks in Paris. As I read about the details and watched the news footage, I was heartsick and distraught. I grieve for the loved ones of all those whose lives were taken and send prayers and love and grace.
I was going to post about it that night, but something made me pause. I didn’t want to post a tribute and then forget about it as I got back into the rhythm of my life here in Australia.
My thoughts:
I don’t just grieve for the victims families, but for the perpetrators as well. I grieve that people choose a life of hatred and violence, that we become so hell bent on destroying each other in fights over land and religion and freedom. Fights fuelled by fear and ignorance.
I grieve for Beirut, for Baghdad, for Syria… for the corners of the earth some of us are more unwilling to call our own (like we have Paris), for the lands and people some would like to forget and ignore. I grieve for the refugees locked away in a detention not fit for any human soul, let alone those who have run from a terror that we cannot even begin to imagine.
I grieve for every family who has had a loved one murdered, taken by drugs, lost to suicide.
I grieve for the lonely and abandoned.
I grieve for every wife and husband who gets beaten day in, day out.
I grieve for every child that hides under their bed at night fearing what the dark brings.
I grieve for governments and corporations who lift up profit over life.
I grieve for a world who cannot for the love of God see that it is destroying itself day by day by day.
It expresses itself violently throughout the world like it has in Paris, Beirut, and in Bagdad. But it’s source resides everywhere.
It lives within us all.
The notion of separateness, that some are better than others, and that there is not ‘enough' to go around… these are embryos of chaos and terror.
We can send love to Paris, Beirut and Baghdad, they need to feel our love and support. But we can be part of the change here by loving our enemies, praying for our persecutors, forgiving those that want to destroy us and seeking peace with our neighbours.
I know that there are grey areas, it's a tough issue and with no clear answers. But the responsibility for change doesn’t rest with our governments. It is our responsibility.
And we can make a difference.
And we should.
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