On the 10th January this year, I wrote a blog posting, titled Charlie, and started it with these words - 'When the outside world dips its toe into our lives, sometimes the ripples are impossible to ignore.'
Now, yet again the ripples wash against the feet of us all.
Yet again - unbelievably - Paris has been brutally attacked.
Yet again brain-numbing atrocity trespasses into our lives.
Yet again the world outside our homes cannot be ignored.
And that, I think, is the point - our homes: those places where we feel safe. Our homes, where terrorism should not dip its dirty fingers, but does - on our TV screens, radios, laptops and newspapers. Our homes, where we can believe and live and enjoy whatever books or music or film or TV series or sport we like. Simply because we are free. Yes, we dream of better things. But we can dream because we are free.
We forget at our peril how fortunate we are to have this freedom. In the free West. To feel safe. To live in a place that we call home and that we have always called home. It is a privilege denied to much of the world's population.
I believe it is impossible to understand the whys of the terrible acts in Paris. To do so would be to look into the mind of a monster. Perhaps, it is better to focus on how it can be stopped.
We must not, in essence, let these tigers that come at night, tear our hope apart.
As I wrote in January, I despise the monotheistic prejudice that turns men against other men. I crave a world where respect and acceptance are the pillars of theism. A world in which all are taught not to believe in just one God, but to accept that there may be many Gods and to recognise that there are people who believe not only in many different Gods, but also some like me who believe in none at all. Perhaps education is the key. But it is arrogant to think that it is a western-style of education that is the key. Teaching, by whatever means, mutual respect - Fraternite, if you like - acceptance of other cultures and an equality of opportunity would get closer to bolstering the foundation of our cherished freedom. Freedom achieved in this way should equal peace. I hope it is achievable. I hope it does.
In January, I wrote that the attackers failed to recognise the power of the pen. Their atrocious acts gave more voice to the satire of Charlie Hebdo than the cartoonists ever dreamt possible. Imagery in whatever form is supreme in most cultures. It always has been. Nothing else has the same power to move, to extract instant emotion and immediately dissipate global recognition. One image can alter history. From Banksy to Uderzo, artists across the world created powerful new images in defiance of the barbaric attack on Charlie Hebdo. Now images again stand in defiance against the terrorists - the tricolour on numerous iconic buildings from Sydney Opera House to the London Eye, and the international emblem of peace superimposed with an Eiffel Tower. Behind all these images is the message that united we stand against the terrorists. If we let fear into our lives and the terrorists divide us, then we will fall.
In the face of such barbarity, I don't have any solution but to plod on. To be tolerant and just a little brave. A knot ties itself tight in my stomach because I face travelling to London and Paris in the next few weeks. It's an uncomfortable feeling not knowing where the next attack might be. Not knowing how to keep my children safe. Not knowing how not to be scared. I took inspiration when I wrote in January from Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson, two climbers who were making a free-climb attempt on the Dawn Wall in California - insignificant and a little ridiculous in the face of everything else going on in the world? Yes, but their self-belief and perseverance in the face of pretty extreme discomfort, I thought illustrated the resilience of the human spirit. Fingers ripped to shreds and contemplating defeat, Tommy Caldwell said, "I'm not giving up. I will rest. I will try again. I will succeed." He did. We should do the same - not give up on freedom, never rest where freedom is threatened, try again to believe that life can be better. And never give up believing in the goodness of humanity. Those that committed these awful acts are less than human.
'Nous sommes tous Parisiens.'
Now, yet again the ripples wash against the feet of us all.
Yet again - unbelievably - Paris has been brutally attacked.
Yet again brain-numbing atrocity trespasses into our lives.
Yet again the world outside our homes cannot be ignored.
And that, I think, is the point - our homes: those places where we feel safe. Our homes, where terrorism should not dip its dirty fingers, but does - on our TV screens, radios, laptops and newspapers. Our homes, where we can believe and live and enjoy whatever books or music or film or TV series or sport we like. Simply because we are free. Yes, we dream of better things. But we can dream because we are free.
We forget at our peril how fortunate we are to have this freedom. In the free West. To feel safe. To live in a place that we call home and that we have always called home. It is a privilege denied to much of the world's population.
I believe it is impossible to understand the whys of the terrible acts in Paris. To do so would be to look into the mind of a monster. Perhaps, it is better to focus on how it can be stopped.
We must not, in essence, let these tigers that come at night, tear our hope apart.
As I wrote in January, I despise the monotheistic prejudice that turns men against other men. I crave a world where respect and acceptance are the pillars of theism. A world in which all are taught not to believe in just one God, but to accept that there may be many Gods and to recognise that there are people who believe not only in many different Gods, but also some like me who believe in none at all. Perhaps education is the key. But it is arrogant to think that it is a western-style of education that is the key. Teaching, by whatever means, mutual respect - Fraternite, if you like - acceptance of other cultures and an equality of opportunity would get closer to bolstering the foundation of our cherished freedom. Freedom achieved in this way should equal peace. I hope it is achievable. I hope it does.
In January, I wrote that the attackers failed to recognise the power of the pen. Their atrocious acts gave more voice to the satire of Charlie Hebdo than the cartoonists ever dreamt possible. Imagery in whatever form is supreme in most cultures. It always has been. Nothing else has the same power to move, to extract instant emotion and immediately dissipate global recognition. One image can alter history. From Banksy to Uderzo, artists across the world created powerful new images in defiance of the barbaric attack on Charlie Hebdo. Now images again stand in defiance against the terrorists - the tricolour on numerous iconic buildings from Sydney Opera House to the London Eye, and the international emblem of peace superimposed with an Eiffel Tower. Behind all these images is the message that united we stand against the terrorists. If we let fear into our lives and the terrorists divide us, then we will fall.
In the face of such barbarity, I don't have any solution but to plod on. To be tolerant and just a little brave. A knot ties itself tight in my stomach because I face travelling to London and Paris in the next few weeks. It's an uncomfortable feeling not knowing where the next attack might be. Not knowing how to keep my children safe. Not knowing how not to be scared. I took inspiration when I wrote in January from Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson, two climbers who were making a free-climb attempt on the Dawn Wall in California - insignificant and a little ridiculous in the face of everything else going on in the world? Yes, but their self-belief and perseverance in the face of pretty extreme discomfort, I thought illustrated the resilience of the human spirit. Fingers ripped to shreds and contemplating defeat, Tommy Caldwell said, "I'm not giving up. I will rest. I will try again. I will succeed." He did. We should do the same - not give up on freedom, never rest where freedom is threatened, try again to believe that life can be better. And never give up believing in the goodness of humanity. Those that committed these awful acts are less than human.
'Nous sommes tous Parisiens.'
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