SOS: Paris Under Attack
By Mohammed Al-Bidhawi, Staff Writer
I write this opinion piece, article, blog post, endless rant of emotions, not a day after terrorists struck at the heart of Paris. I write this after more than 100 innocent lives were taken from us. I write this with a heavy heart and injured soul. Like the rest of the world, I am shocked and disgusted at what took place in Paris. Humanity was injured that day.
Most, if not all my Facebook friends have temporarily changed their profile picture to show solidarity with the French people. People on social media, news outlets, and newspapers are distraught over what took place in Paris.
“Many people have voiced their outrage —rightfully so— against such acts of hate that have no place in humanity.”
President Obama called the situation in Paris an ‘’attack on all of humanity.’’1 I too am saddened, outraged, and distraught over what happened in Paris.
I am not only saddened about the abominable acts of terror that took place in Paris, but also because of what happened in Beirut, Baghdad and Thailand. I am saddened because no such solidarity was shown for Thailand, Lebanon or Iraq. I am saddened that no such outrage was shown for the anti-Shiite attack in Baghdad on the same night of the Paris attacks. Human rights were violated across the world. International law was broken.
Law is not about being a big shot lawyer. It is not about money. It is not about seeking revenge. Law is ultimately about justice. It is about protecting those whom cannot protect themselves. How can we as humans fight against injustice, if we find it socially acceptable to ignore other injustice. The only differences between the Paris and Baghdad attacks were the victims. Some were French and some were Iraqi. How can we fight injustice if we cannot recognize the tragedies and hardships that equally plague two people. The only difference being their skin color or they country they are from. It is so tragic what happened in Paris, but yet so ‘normal’ what happened in Baghdad or Beirut.
We are not as disconnected as we would like to think. We are not so disconnected that we can shield ourselves to the woes and troubles of an entire people. We are human. We are interconnected. The terrible crimes that took place in Paris are equally terrible when they take place in any other place. A human is a human. One wrong death is one too many. In his letter, Letter from a Birmingham Jail, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly. Never again can we afford to live with the narrow, provincial ‘outside agitator’ idea.“2 His words have never been more true. Just like in his time, we cannot live with the idea that the travesties that plague the Middle East are the problem of the Middle East.
We are human. Whether we are from the East or West, we are human. We cannot ignore one injustice yet mercilessly attack the same injustice that affects another people. We as humans have to lend a hand when someone is down. No matter who that person is. We must follow in the sentiments of the great John F. Kennedy when he stated “[t]o those peoples in the huts and villages of half the globe struggling to break the bonds of mass misery, we pledge our best efforts to help them help themselves, for whatever period is required–not because the communists may be doing it, not because we seek their votes, but because it is right.” That is what humanity is after all. I leave you with the words of Warsen Shire, shared with me by a kind soul:
“later that night
i held an atlas in my lap
ran my fingers across the whole world
and whispered
where does it hurt?
it answered
everywhere
everywhere
everywhere.”
- http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/15/us/politics/paris-attacks-to-dominate-agenda-at-g-20-conference-in-turkey.html?_r=0
- https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
- http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=8032
