Je suis Charlie. Je suis Ahmed.
It seems that the New Year often prompts me to remember my erstwhile blog--I had already decided this year that I needed to take it up again, this time with a theme. Since I hadn't posted to it in awhile (wink, wink), I had some struggles accessing it again. But I am in again now--just in time to have lots to say about the current situation gripping France and, thanks to the media, the rest of the world.
I spent several terrific years in Paris. I made good friends from all over the globe, and I discovered what has become my life's work while I was there. That work has allowed me to continue to get to know people from all over the globe, and the news often makes me worry about former students who could be affected by earthquakes, tsunamis, plane crashes and wars.
Sometimes even I forget that I moved to Paris following a brief but fun stint in journalism at The Independent in Gallup, NM. That job gave me experience as a movie critic, interviewer and recipe curator, skills that have served me well no matter what my job titles have been.
My mother wasn't happy that I was in Paris. She worried about many things concerning my life there, but one day as we were talking on the phone she said to me, "Promise me you won't walk down a street where you know there will be a bomb." I have always wondered what kind of friends she thought I had who would be able to tell me where a bomb would be, but her warning was in response to my telling her that, in fact, a friend from church had been inside a shop when its windows were shattered by a bomb in the street a few days earlier.
That's the purpose of terrorism: catching average folks unawares as they pursue their lives in the course of an ordinary day. In Paris on Wednesday, terrorism succeeded.
The attack itself touches on several factors including free speech, religious tolerance, and respect for law. The policeman who was killed as the attackers fled embodied that irony: employed for eight years as a policeman in Paris, he was of North African heritage and perhaps a Muslim. He had the unfortunate fate of being in the way of the escape of the attackers. Did they simply react to his uniform without considering him as a person? Very likely.
Among my favorite museums is the Newseum in Washington, DC. There is a memorial to honor journalists who have been killed while covering war stories, and that's what I thought of when I heard about the Charlie Hebdo attack. Will these journalists be included in that memorial? I won't be in on the making of that decision, but I believe that their deaths count as being victims of war. When the attackers are found, they may not be tried as war criminals, but I suspect that the attack itself will be counted as a victory for terrorism. All of us have to live with its aftereffects--there is no "rewind" to give the attackers another moment in which to change their minds.
So what can be learned from this? Firstly, that when tragedy strikes, it touches every human being, even if its victims are not personally known to us. Secondly, that there are lots of people willing to perpetuate terror, particularly if they feel that they have a reason to do so.
But we also can learn that we as individuals don't have to let terror take charge of us. We can choose to perpetuate peace wherever we are--if enough of us commit ourselves to that task, it will succeed. How do we do it? By not only listening but also really hearing each other, by paying attention to the voices around us, by sometimes choosing to put off answering until an answer comes that doesn't add to the ill will others are feeling.
We can perpetuate peace through silence.
Over at Praying for Eyebrowz, my friend Leslie often ends her blog with "Peace, people!" My wish is that we would all become people of peace. We can perpetuate peace through speaking (and writing) our individual pieces. That's what I've done today, and perhaps what I will continue doing throughout 2015.
I spent several terrific years in Paris. I made good friends from all over the globe, and I discovered what has become my life's work while I was there. That work has allowed me to continue to get to know people from all over the globe, and the news often makes me worry about former students who could be affected by earthquakes, tsunamis, plane crashes and wars.
Sometimes even I forget that I moved to Paris following a brief but fun stint in journalism at The Independent in Gallup, NM. That job gave me experience as a movie critic, interviewer and recipe curator, skills that have served me well no matter what my job titles have been.
My mother wasn't happy that I was in Paris. She worried about many things concerning my life there, but one day as we were talking on the phone she said to me, "Promise me you won't walk down a street where you know there will be a bomb." I have always wondered what kind of friends she thought I had who would be able to tell me where a bomb would be, but her warning was in response to my telling her that, in fact, a friend from church had been inside a shop when its windows were shattered by a bomb in the street a few days earlier.
That's the purpose of terrorism: catching average folks unawares as they pursue their lives in the course of an ordinary day. In Paris on Wednesday, terrorism succeeded.
The attack itself touches on several factors including free speech, religious tolerance, and respect for law. The policeman who was killed as the attackers fled embodied that irony: employed for eight years as a policeman in Paris, he was of North African heritage and perhaps a Muslim. He had the unfortunate fate of being in the way of the escape of the attackers. Did they simply react to his uniform without considering him as a person? Very likely.
Among my favorite museums is the Newseum in Washington, DC. There is a memorial to honor journalists who have been killed while covering war stories, and that's what I thought of when I heard about the Charlie Hebdo attack. Will these journalists be included in that memorial? I won't be in on the making of that decision, but I believe that their deaths count as being victims of war. When the attackers are found, they may not be tried as war criminals, but I suspect that the attack itself will be counted as a victory for terrorism. All of us have to live with its aftereffects--there is no "rewind" to give the attackers another moment in which to change their minds.
So what can be learned from this? Firstly, that when tragedy strikes, it touches every human being, even if its victims are not personally known to us. Secondly, that there are lots of people willing to perpetuate terror, particularly if they feel that they have a reason to do so.
But we also can learn that we as individuals don't have to let terror take charge of us. We can choose to perpetuate peace wherever we are--if enough of us commit ourselves to that task, it will succeed. How do we do it? By not only listening but also really hearing each other, by paying attention to the voices around us, by sometimes choosing to put off answering until an answer comes that doesn't add to the ill will others are feeling.
We can perpetuate peace through silence.
Over at Praying for Eyebrowz, my friend Leslie often ends her blog with "Peace, people!" My wish is that we would all become people of peace. We can perpetuate peace through speaking (and writing) our individual pieces. That's what I've done today, and perhaps what I will continue doing throughout 2015.
Labels: Je suis Ahmed, Je suis Charlie, Paris, peace, terrorism
posted by The View From Here | 10:42 AM
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