Friday, November 13th 2015

I do not want to live in fear. I do not want to live afraid. I do not want to live in a world where this violence becomes common, where this kind of pain becomes numb, where this kind of tragedy becomes the setting for wars and sorrow. I refuse to be cowed by this group of men hiding behind masks. I refuse to let this world become red in the blood of my people. No one should have to put up with this.

Not African Americans, not the French, not the people in the Middle East, not the people in America, not those in China, or Japan, or London, or Ireland, or Australia, or any other people in the world.

What are these beasts in masks? What has dragged them from the pits of Hell to terrorize the world? What tortured men have found solace in causing pain and terror? Why are they so Hell-bent on causing fear in nations renowned for grace an beauty? How can we stop them? For they must be stopped. Attacks like 9/11 and Paris and Beirut, and so many others must stop. It is insanity to go on ignoring them. Assuming that it will be taken care of. That maybe they will stop. They will not stop.

I ask you. When will you forget? When will this fall of Paris drop from your mind? When your Facebook profile picture is no longer blue, whit, and red? When the manhunt drags out too long and out of the limelight? When your favorite celebrity overdoses on heroin and fills your attention instead? When will you forget? Next week? Next month? Will you forget when the attackers are safely squirreled away in prison bars? I ask you to never forget. Never forget that there are men out there in the world who have the heart black enough to do such things. Never Forget. Never Forget the men and women who opened their arms to the bleeding, crying, and lost during 9/11 and Paris. Never forget the terrible and the good that is on the Earth, not so far from you.

Look around you world. World, look, I beseech you. Look at how sparklers make you jump. You ran and screamed in panic. You sheer panicked. You dropped all thought of your fellow man and you ran like cows, madly, to get away from what you assumed was your death. You gave those sick subhumans exactly what they wanted: Terror. To everyone of you at home and watching the fire through a television screen, do not tell me you don’t hug your guns a little closer, that you don’t act a little jumpier, that you don’t shy away from a stranger on the street in a hoodie. Because I know you did. We all did.

This, this is what terror does to us. It makes us forget our inclinations to compassion and caring as we fear for ourselves, and I will not let some group of sick men take away what I believe to be our humanity and turn s into a stampede.

So I refuse. I refuse to be quiet. I refuse to hide myself and leave it to others to stand up to these bullies behind masks and screens. I demand a change. And I call on you, to help me change it.

- Sincerely With Hope,
  I.A.