Surely by now you’ve heard what happened in Paris.
I don’t really have anything to say. There’s nothing I can contribute. Go read what others have to say. They are more knowledgeable, more involved, probably even more eloquent than I am today.
I don’t know how to stop ISIS. I don’t know if we should be involved in Syria. I’m going to have to read more and look around and think to form answers to those questions. I encourage all my readers to do the same.
But please, I beg you. I am begging you. Shine a light for peace. Be a force for good. Don’t feed hatred.
Treat Muslims you see around you as friends, as decent human beings. This is what most Muslims are. They are not the enemy. They are not a threat. They are people just like we are. They are not responsible for the actions of others just because they share some common theology or geography.
Show some extra kindness to whoever you see in your community . . . but especially show kindness to people whose race or ethnicity might make them a target. They’re probably dealing with a lot of meanness right now. And it really hasn’t been that long since the meanness that went with our awful, xenophobic election campaigning last month. So show a little love.
Show extra kindness to yourself, too. This sort of thing makes me emotional. It makes me sad. It makes me scared for everybody – for vulnerable people in the places where the attacks are taking place, and for people everywhere who might feel the fallout from these events.
It makes me scared for the children at my former workplace, many of whom were from Muslim immigrant families. I am sad for what they might experience. I have joined their games and dried their tears. They, and their families, are not my enemies.
Remember that, as ISIS attacks in the western world, it also attacks countries in the Middle East. Attacks in Lebanon have happened at the same time as the Parisian attacks. Many nations deal with attacks like this on a daily or weekly basis. ISIS is a threat to everybody, Muslims and non-Muslims. It isn’t Muslims vs. the West; it’s people of goodwill vs. terrorists.
There are many more people of goodwill than terrorists.
Please be one of those.
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