After what has been an intense twenty four hours for Australia Im glad I havent seen much public backlash towards the Islamic and Muslim community as a whole in fact I have seen much of the opposite, whatever that mans motives for doing what he did while totally unjustified and completely terrifying in its very nature the only conclusion I can come to is that he was severely mentally ill because no person of sound body and mind or religion would bring themselves to commit such atrocities against humanity. Terrorism at the heart of it seeks only to spread fear and terror... This man was alone in the stand off, he is not affiliated with the Islamic state but instead leveraged their influence to get whatever his sick message was across or if he is, he didnt have anyone else on his side on that day and how has Australia retaliated? With compassion and understanding, it is a tragedy what happened at Martin Place, it truly is and my heart goes out to those people and their families that have been affected by this. We as Australians can not and should not condemn the race or religion of a people because of the acts of one person. We as Australians should rise above the fear that this event has perpetuated and in a lot of ways we have, the rallying cry of #illridewithyou is a testament to that. But for me personally it has put in perspective of whats important, I mean really important. Its us, its your brother, your sister your friends, family. Its the fleeting moments, its the little and large occasions. And I know Ill hug my mum tonight knowing that. If you want to fight terrorism and win, dont let yourself be afraid dont give into fear that the media relays to you because thats no way to live. Instead of fighting terrorism with guns and bombs acknowledge that terrorism is just an idea, its an ideology... Its almost impossible to kill an idea with brute force. But we cant kill an idea, not without a better one. I dont want to take a leaf out of Americas book and fight terror with terror. Instead replace that idea with something as equally strong emotionally as fear... Fight terrorism with love ... Fight terrorism with random acts of kindness. Fight terrorism with something thats for most of us unthinkable, but necessary to move forward and begin to heal, ... forgiveness. I hope to see Australia unite over this, I know tensions are high and its easy to spout racist comments I hope we take the road less travelled.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 10:03:44 +0000