Monday, August 11, 2014

for those who are afraid

"Do not google for this, if you don't have a very strong stomach!" was the warning accompanying an article on the horrific crimes against humanity by the Islamic State.

I stumbled upon some photos, not by googling, but by clicking some links on facebook. I looked, trembling, my tears too paralysed to flow. The images of beheaded children shouldn't exist. We shouldn't be seeing this. The diabolic authorities that cause ISIS to actually present them with pride, do not deserve any publicity. Yet the images must be seen because they exist. The world cannot turn a blind eye.

I'm sure my readers will be thankful to find that I'm not posting any links here. What's the point? I think I do have quite a strong stomach, but I don't want to see these sickening photos! I prefer to not see them and not let it sink into my heart that this is actually happening in the same world that I live in so peacefully.

Still, now that I have seen them, I have to ask: "What can we do?!"

In the quiet of the night, I sat thinking about this and concluded that the only way to fight this kind of hatefulness is to love.

There will be refugees coming our way. People will have to flee for their lives and some of them will live near us in the future. How will we welcome them? Will we let them be stigmatised by impressions we have of strangers? Or will we offer them a safe place where they won't be embittered any further? Will we be willing to share our wealth, our facilities, our schools, our towns, our places of work and our homes?

Let's be ready to open our arms wide for those who have lost so much.


1 comment:

annegreet said...
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