Here we are again. Americans are again shocked by an attack in Europe after a rash of attacks over the last two months in South West Asia.
Nice, along the French Riviera and one of the most beautiful cities in Europe and the world, has been plunged into grief. More than 80 killed and 100 injured by a lone truck driver on July 14, Bastille Day. The lone driver was eventually shot and killed by police and is suspected of terrorist links, especially after the discovery of guns, grenades, and ammunition in the truck.
This is not to downplay the importance of the attack but to highlight the way Americans and the rest of the West have reacted to the terrorist activities of the last two months. Like the attacks in Paris and Brussels in late 2015, the attack in Nice came after a series of attacks in Turkey, Bangladesh, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, and Israel. The attacks were carried out by ISIS, Fatah, and Hezbollah while the attack in Nice, as of the writing of this article, has not been claimed by any terrorist groups nor has a Western authority attributed the attack to a group since the attack was carried out by one man who was killed since capture.
The victims of the Nice Attack included a Texan father and his son, bringing the event closer to home for the US, but the victims of the previous attacks in South West Asia have been effectively forgotten and written off as part of the everyday activities in the region. It is no wonder that citizens in Israel are numbed, practically desensitized, to violence since they live with it every day, soldiers and police patrolling every corner while the Iron Dome does its job of intercepting a majority of the rockets aimed at Israel from Gaza and the West Bank. But the West has become desensitized to the violence in the region as well, using the thousands of miles to mentally distance themselves.
The “Pray for [X]” and “Thoughts and Prayers” slogans come out with the attacks in Europe and the US but Indians, Bangladeshis, Iraqis, Israelis, Saudis, Turks, and Lebanese matter too because they are dying every day from the violence that comes to our doorsteps so infrequently. Our shock when it does come to us is justified, but our efforts to remember those who face it daily and to offer them help to one day alleviate their suffering must not wane! As one of my colleagues has written, prayer is nothing without action.
This is my prayer that I have tried to act out each and every day but have now put in print and encourage you, dear reader, to act out and share:
Let our thoughts and prayers flow freely. May we feel sympathy, grief, loss and understanding for those hurt and killed. May we all feel a bit more united in a war against terror and hate that while it can never be won in the traditional sense, we can deny hate and terror the chance to breed further by remembering that it is only some who commit acts of terror and hate, not all. But may we remember to extend our thoughts and prayers to those beyond the out of the ordinary events.
In thinking and praying, may we turn our thoughts into words and our prayers into actions. To love our neighbors for the humanity and planet we share and thus be mutually loved. May our words and actions be the kind that work to defuse hate and to prevent more bombs and bullets from flying, wherever they may already be and where they may be in the future. That by approaching the violence from a position of love, we strive to better attack the source of hate and in so striving, we may be bystanders no longer but through our example in whatever capacity, be peacemakers. May we live in love for ourselves, our neighbors and the world and channel it accordingly because it is the only proven bringer of peace.
