Standing together
If there is one thing our country has taught us, it is never to hand over our fate to anyone. It is not enough to hand over our destiny to leaders and those who often purport to represent us.
Neither is it enough to hand over our destiny to those whom we feel have wronged us, that they should take corrective action while we wait.
We must always be concerned enough with our fate to influence and change things for the better. There is no empowerment more important than this.
The moment you and I hand over responsibility to people we feel have more entitlement to take decisions than we do, we stand the chance of destroying both ourselves and those to whom we hand over our lives in that way.
There is no excuse, no cause and no reason that can justify the massacre of civilians in the manner which happened in Paris recently.
It is a primitive act which belongs to a time when retaliation would have meant wholesale massacre of anyone who resembles those who perpetuated this horror.
It is an act which does not belong to our times, or to mankind, as we now understand ourselves. It is indeed a crime against all of humanity.
It is truly disappointing that in this day and age, this massacre is not the only one, but one of many, perpetrated by extremist groups all around the world. There have been massacres in Kenya, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and many other places which are engulfed in needless bloody conflict.
It is time the citizens of the world took this matter into our own hands. We can no longer wait for governments to raise awareness. We can’t wait for them to marshal their armies to combat this scourge.
This scourge will be effectively combated by active citizens who spread the word that violence is unacceptable in this day and age. This is a call for citizens to imprint on our collective psyches that the time for using violence to deal with disagreement is firmly past. The pen proved mightier than the sword, information will prove mightier than bombs and AK47’s.
The strength of ISIS and other extremist groups depends on their ability to win the minds of some. They would like to point out inconsistencies and injustices in a bid to legitimise their own inconsistency, injustice and inhumanity.
Our duty is to use information to transform the hearts and minds of the people to an unyielding commitment to the human race. We must show unrelenting dedication to challenging the injustices of the present by affirming the bold truth that we belong together.
The time of the west versus the east and the south versus the north is past. We are one race. Despite the conflicts of the past, our redemption is not in perpetuating those injustices but in creating a new future, where nothing is hidden from public scrutiny.
The greatest challenge for France now is to respond to this serious of hideous acts through consideration and commitment to justice. It is a difficult time, an emotional time and a time that will test France’s commitment to its status as a modern, civilised nation.
France cannot make the same mistakes countries like the US made in response to terrorism. The nation must not find itself venting its pain by inflicting pain on others, starting wars and destabilising societies – actions which are as heinous as this massacre.
We, however, the citizens of the world, must stand together with France. We must stand together to emphasise the idea that we are indeed one people regardless of evidence to the contrary.
We must show that this is the future we are working for: to be a race which abhors violence and which promotes openness and justice.