Ever since the Paris terrorist attacks in November 2015, hundreds of other ISIS linked missions have occurred. A handful of these attacks have been reported, but most of them have been kept under the radar. One of these includes an attack on Tunisia's National Bardo Museum, killing at least 21 people, mostly tourists. Within the past week, two bombings devastated the Turkish cities of Ankara and Istanbul, resulting in over 100 victims. Unfortunately, there is another city we have to add to this never-ending list.
Last Tuesday, I was scrolling through my Twitter feed and noticed the large amount of tweets embedded with #PrayForBrussels. My initial thoughts were, “Seriously, what could have possibly happened now?” Two brothers, Khalid El Bakraoui and Ibrahim El Bakraoui, recently identified as suicide bombers, conducted attacks at the Zaventem airport and Maelbeek metro station. One of the men that helped them is still on the loose, posing a major threat to European nations. Coincidentally, the attacks happened right after Salah Abdeslam, the man responsible for the Paris attacks, was captured in Brussels.
Why exactly did they choose Belgium? The country is geographically and culturally divided between the Flemish population in the north and the French-speaking population in the south. As a result, the structure of Belgium's government has many layers, making it more internally divided and more susceptible to attacks. Without proper regulation of its security and intelligence agencies, many potential plots go unnoticed.
Just like Paris, Brussels has a relatively large Muslim population. Considering the amount of prejudice surrounding their religion, it is no surprise that most of Belgium's Muslim youth feel like they simply do not belong. I'm not entirely sure of the degree of prejudice, but it is definitely prominent enough for young men to join ISIS. These men feel like they are of no use to Belgium, so they travel to Iraq and Syria to take part in extremist affairs, which are by no means any better. While the exact number remains uncertain, nearly 500 men and women have left Belgium for these countries since 2012. About 150 are reported to have returned to Belgium.
What bothers me the most is that innocent people are being killed. In fact, a U.S. teen, Mason Wells, has survived three terrorist attacks: the Boston Marathon bombing, the Paris attack and now Brussels. I think this goes to show that you never really know what can happen and that you shouldn't take your safety and security for granted.
There is one thing that the Brussels and Paris bombers have in common: They’re all Muslim. We can go back to the classic debate surrounding the expression, “All Muslims are terrorists,” but that would just make us appear very narrow-minded, uneducated and childish. In all honesty, I believe that most people know this statement isn't true, but the attacks aren’t exactly helping people reaffirm their beliefs.
With that being said, I think we are certainly making progress toward accepting other cultures. Despite our efforts, the amount of terrorist attacks have not decreased. It’s saddening because these things are becoming a daily occurrence; we are no longer surprised to hear about another attack. You can never be sure where the next one is going to happen and that is what scares me the most. Many of these attacks killed tourists, which does not make me want to go to these countries.
At the same time, you shouldn't let these attacks stop you from seeing parts of the world that you have always wanted to see. Life is too short and sometimes the only way to gain a better understanding of conflict is to go to the center of it. I'm not saying hop on a plane to Syria, but don't be afraid to travel to the Eiffel Tower. Yes, the world is clearly in turmoil, but it is not completely life threatening. Who knows how safe it will be to travel a few years from now, anyway?
If you're unhappy with something, I beg you not to use violence as a means of getting what you want. Maybe that's just the humanitarian in me talking, but believe me, it's not the best way. With the ongoing refugee crisis, the animosity at Trump rallies and these terrorist attacks, we have a lot of work to do. I'm hoping that there is some faith in humanity left because right now we are hanging by a very thin thread.
One of the things that people need to realize is that every single person on Earth is fighting his/her own battle. The difference is that some of these battles are greater than others and it can bring out the worst in people. I'm not saying that we can suddenly get into people's brains and turn off the inhumane insanity switch, but we can certainly stop feeding this obsessive "we are better than you" concept into future generations. If we do this, eventually someone is going to come along and say, "Hey, what you are doing to people is absolutely ridiculous." If we're lucky, people will follow this person and maybe the world will become a better place. No promises, though. As human beings, we need to be less prejudiced and more open-minded. Terrorism has no religion, pass it on.
