Loving our Brothers Beyond the Otherness
The news sent shockwaves up our spines with its extent of rabid hatred that was fired in broad daylight at people who were bowing down before God for the Jumuah Prayer at a Mosque, on Friday.
Over the years as we were busy branding one community and the East for spurring terror, we pretentiously or unknowingly let go of the terror that spread from the racist biases in the West. The havoc that racism has been creating since time immemorial isnt too petty to be left unnoticed. Racism has been and will continue to inflict terror in our lives if we continue to address such gory acts spurred from an evil as malicious as white supremacy with such benign approaches.
The white man, shot down 49 innocent lives, for which he pointed out a reason as sickening and shocking as their inexplicable otherness. The very thought of otherness that we develop in our minds towards our fellow beings is the seeding stage of furious hatred. When we fail to recognize the innumerable similarities we share with others, we see them as the other. Every time we point out a difference as a motive to hate the other person, we are becoming a lesser human.
Humanity is seeing all human beings as one irrespective of their colour, race, creed or whatever categories that people have themselves created to segregate themselves. Differences, true, are inevitable. But to be a human is to accept the differences and embrace the similarities. When media around the world struggled to label the white man who spit the venom of racial supremacy, as a terrorist and instead took to calling him a mere gunman, Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, didnt need a second thought before calling him a terrorist.
Also, the response of the residents of the country has been overwhelmingly heartening. As they solaced their fellow beings with hugs, flowers, and prayers, as they expressed their support loud and clear to the world, and held their hands strong affirming a promise, these people were themselves becoming the beacon of hope, consoling us that goodness has not left us completely. Photo by Skitterphoto from Pexels
