Gasp.
I made a disturbing mistake this morning.
I opened the internet to my cbc.ca homepage; and from there I led myself down an unusual path. I ended up on Time’s list of 100 influential people; from there I caught a glimpse of the name of Michael Savage (I think) as someone the media hesistates to mention; out of curiousity, I pasted his name into Google and came up with a few sites; I clicked on one and up popped a loud, colourful and seemingly pro-American site (at first glance); to the right lower corner there were a number of videos to download, some Taliban – and of course here, my curiousity got the best of me and I downloaded one.
Having never for a moment considered beheading someone, I was caught unprepared for what I was about to see. There sat an American man, from his looks in his late 20’s, seated infront of four Taliban members. After a lengthy script was read, there was a moment of screaming from somewhere unidentified, and swiftly the hostage was hauled down on his side. What followed was an absolute nightmare, and had my heart beating as fast as my last birthday, in the bar when the machete swung down only a few feet from my right shoulder.
I felt profoundly sad all day that we as humans have the capacity to inflict such brutality on one another. In my mind, I spent the day jumping shoes from the hostage, to the members, to the hostage’s parents, and replacing each with real people in my own life – each time, pausing to consider how it might feel.
I suppose that I could recoil in horror, double lock the doors and refuse to leave the apartment after dark to be safe. But what good would that do? What good is it to dwell on your fears and ignore the joys? Would that not just breed unnecessary fear – paranoia – and in time and many steps down the line, perhaps put oneself in a position to commit such a horrific act as to guard their illusions?
Perhaps the only path is to, while being circumspect and avoiding overly brazen steps, throw fear ‘out the window’ and put one’s focus on joy, peace. By doing away with self-imposed mental walls, would we not find a common compassion to overcome clannishness, greed – and ultimately, such rash situations?
It’s just a hunch. We’ll see where that path leads.
Evangelically, Laura.
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