It can only take a few seconds to make the world stop turning. Your neighbors, your loved ones and even complete strangers can bring you to tears. People from all across the world stop what they are doing and come together to support our fellow brothers and sisters during a time of need. It doesn’t matter what you believe, or whose message is loudest, we can all agree there is no place for Terrorism in this world. The Paris Terror attacks that occurred on November 13, 2015 will forever be remembered all across this globe.
Paris is known as the city of love amongst civilized society. I think of natural beauty, friends of Americans and strong values; values that we fellow Americans share with our French Allies. We strongly believe in democracy and champion equal rights within the international community. The French happen to be America’s oldest ally. They supported us from when we were just a bunch of colonies in the revolution against Britain, to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It is clear that we must stand by our foreign allies in pursuit of living in a prosperous world. Most importantly we must all unite to defeat the culprit of evil.
ISIL or ISIS as some of you have may heard, has taken responsibility of the attack on the French soil. A total of four suicide bombs, mass shootings at four different locations, and nearly 130 innocent civilians murdered. The attacks enacted a state of emergency in France, and the attacks were called the worst since World War II. Approximately 370 people were injured in results from this travesty, 100 of them considered to be seriously injured. To say that this was a tragic event would be an understatement, because the lives of so many around the world will forever be changed by those who are no longer with us.
Let me remind you that a reflective journal entry will never be able to fathom the kind of leadership we need now more than ever in this world. Terrorist Organizations such as ISIS feed off of the attention we give them on Social Media. They want us to be afraid of them; they feed off of our negative energy because they have mastered the art of digital communication. They claim to be Islamic, and in reality they are Radical Jihadist. I have friends and acquaintances that practice the Islamic Religion and they are peaceful people. This in return leads to xenophobic remarks by members of society, and ultimately creates a war on an entire religion. American Citizens strongly identify as being a Christian, in fact nearly 70 percent. Of course nations across the globe such as Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia strongly identify as Muslims. Social Media is the only way that truly can connect people from one side of Earth to the other with little to no effort. We see what people post on the internet and think “Oh my goodness is this true.” Some are never hesitant to post a Facebook status detailing their vision for America or the world rather. ISIL wants us to respond this way; they want us to fight amongst one another so their plan to terrorize the world will go much more smoothly.
I am here to tell you today that the first step to solving this problem is to stop shouting at one another. We have got to stop yelling at one another in order to find common ground to work for the common good. It is very evident we have a problem, so we have got to be smart about what is the best way to fight this war on terror. You can play your part by choosing to be kind in such a sad world. Help those that need our help, and if you pray, pray for a better tomorrow. Today we are Americans, we are French, and we are all inhabitants of this Earth. Let’s strap on our boots, dust off our gear and get to work. We have a world to save.
