I was going to write about blackberry picking today but
somehow, with the events of the last 24 hours, it isn’t uppermost in my mind.
Yes, another beheading; this time it was a man who was just trying to help, an
aid worker if you will. Undoubtedly a very brave man, a man who believed in
what he was doing, a man who risked it all and lost. Do I admire him? Well, I
do and I don’t. I do because he stood up to the bullies and tried to help the
needy. I don’t because the risks and consequences were always far too dangerous.
Perhaps he believed too much. Perhaps he thought that it wouldn’t happen to
him. I can understand that.
Now, with his brutal killing, the world is yet again
outraged and uproared as it should be. People call for our government to ‘stop
being soft’, others try to whip up hatred of Muslims regardless of who they are
or what they believe, there are calls to send in the troops again to stop
‘them’ taking over. It’s almost as if we have played no part at all in this
terrible mess.
Let’s not forget that we have been fiddling with this area
throughout history or that we went in and destabilised the region very recently
based on political lies of ‘weapons of mass destruction’. I’m not saying that
the actions of ISIS are justified and I’m certainly
not saying that they are right. But let’s not pretend that our own actions have
not contributed to this mess. There is blame on our part too.
War is always terrible, terrorism unforgivable. But young
men are easily persuaded and evil men are good persuaders. Rebels without
causes are just that, young blood will always find a cause to fight for socialism, freedom, even their country and gladly go into hell with god on their side.
What do we do? I don’t know. It isn’t as simple as ‘walk away’; the problem is
with us in our own country – albeit not to the extent that some might want us
to believe.
That is the thing with this new, much smaller, world we have
made. There is no isolation, we really are interdependent, almost too close to
each other, and that – more than anything else – is the problem I fear. Each of
our actions touches another; even a comment on Facebook can incite big
emotions; as I know to my cost.
With this in mind I say this: it is for each of us to keep our
own calm in the face of these atrocities. It is for each of us to remember that
we are all involved and that our actions and words have an effect. There are
seven and a half billion people in the world, all but a very, very few have never
decapitated another person or ever would. They are of all races and religions
and a proportion is Muslim, just as a proportion is Christian, Buddhist, or has
no belief at all.
Most people in this world are good, but evil exists in
pockets everywhere - it isn’t the province of a single group or religion. Most
are disgusted with what is taking place, but it is easy to forget that and set
the dogs running.
