In my imagination - I hear young people sitting together asking these questions.
What will the body count be? They cannot ignore us when the streets run with blood. Everything is justified because our cause is righteous. Which of you will give your lives today? Then carnage.
They will not be the first group of human beings to act in this way and, sadly, they will not be the last. People have been acting in this way forever.
Slave traders feeling righteous about the people they kidnapped from their countries.
People who blow up abortion clinics and kill doctors.
Governors feeling righteous when refusing to open their borders and hearts to suffering people from other countries.
Maybe it’s not the same yet, maybe it is. All violence starts with a feeling and then a thought. At the root of all violence is loss and fear. It begins when we project our own bias on those around us.
What can I do here in Rockford, Ill?
I can be present to every day acts of charity.
Speak with kindness and compassion first -- and know I am not always right, give up sarcasm. Believe that people are gifts, no matter.
These are the weapons that fight terrorism.
Xenophobia and righteousness make us weak.
I keep hearing these simple words, from the gospel of Jesus Christ: “What so ever you did not do for others, you did not do for me.”
Counterterrorism is so simple. It’s not only what we do, it’s who we be.
I’m Lou Ness, and that’s my perspective.
