What happened in Paris?
The killing of 129 people in the City of Light once again brought terror, blood, and death to a city prized for its beauty, expression, and love. The violence we witnessed in Paris seems to be becoming common place in our world. As Twitter Feeds and Facebook Timelines are filled, everyday, with images of death, of attacks, and of terrorism, we run the risk of this reality becoming the norm. We can never allow that to happen.
One of the great dangers of the connected world is losing sight of the truly remarkable. Remarkable can be positive or negative, but once we fail to recognize what is and is not normal human behavior, we have reached the point of no return... we become just as numb to acts of wonder and beauty as we do to horror and pain. The attack on Paris was an attack on normalcy... as were the attacks in Beirut and Kenya this past week.
During these times there is a natural tendency to withdraw from the world, to simply say the world is too ugly or too dangerous. There is a tendency to begin to avoid experiences, to avoid centers of activity, to avoid beauty, to avoid all those things which bring hope and light into a world seemingly consumed with darkness. We must fight these urges...
Over the weekend I was asked whether or not Travel Club would still take its trip this summer. Whether or not we would still visit Paris. My response was swift and definite. We have to travel... we have to travel to Paris. Why? Because Paris does not belong to those who brought death and destruction to the city. It does not belong to people who have hijacked a system of faith for their own secular, political purposes. Paris does not belong to those who seek to terrorize and kill. Paris belongs to love. It belongs to beauty. It belongs to peace. It belongs to the shared ideal that the light is stronger than the darkness. It belongs to the ideal of freedom and prosperity. It belongs to those who choose to not live in fear. It belongs to those who refuse to be bullied by pseudo-Religious martyrs who are ignorant of their own supposed faith.
Travel is how I choose to fight back against extremism. The free exchange of ideas is how I choose to fight back against extremism. Teaching and sharing what Islam actually is, is how I choose to fight back against extremism... and this summer visiting Paris, standing beneath the Eiffel Tower, walking down the Champs-Élysées, looking for Quasimodo in Notre Dame Cathedral, and studying the mystery of the Mona Lisa in the Louvre is how I choose to fight back against extremism.
Je Suis Paris
Je Suis le monde
Je Suis la paix