" We can be pitiful or we can be powerful but we cannot be both at the same time."
Joel O'steen
I was heartbroken when I heard that someone put bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon but I began to feel a sense of pride in my fellow Americans when I read that, after the bombs went off, instead of running away, strangers were running toward the dust and risking their own lives to help others. These people represent the America that my brother, father, and grandfathers fought for. These are the people who make this a great nation, this is a reflection of the values that our nation was founded on, and this is why I am proud to be an American.
Usually, a terrorist wants people to know why he did it. Since the 19th century, when terrorism began assassinations in Europe, they signed their assassinations. What joy does the assassin draw from killing people? Try to understand that. You can’t.” Elie Wiesel
Elie Wiesel was a Jew, born in 1928, and a Holocaust survivor. He could have gone through life carrying a blanket of hatred and wallowing in self pity but instead he made a negative experience have a positive outcome. Instead of harboring an attitude of resentment, he spent the remainder of his life working to create change by teaching tolerance and acceptance to others. He and his wife started the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity. Their mission statement is "Our mission is to combat indifference, intolerance, and injustice through international dialogues and youth focused programs that promote acceptance, understanding and equality. The opposite of love is not hate, it's indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it's indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it's indifference. The opposite of life is not death, it's indifference."
If we lose a loved one to a disease, such as cancer, we continue to fight long after the disease has claimed it's victim by doing whatever we need to do to fund research and raise awareness. I will not pretend to understand these heinous acts committed against innocent people but it makes me feel as though our society today is fighting it's own form of cancer. The bombing at the Boston Marathon supports the concept that gun control is not the answer to the America's problem with violence. Restricting access to guns will not cure the disease, it only forces someone to find a different weapon. America's disease stems from an attitude of indifference in a violent culture that has desensitized some people to the pain of others. What I find worrisome is that the bible says that every sin begins with a thought yet our society is saturated with images of violence and hate. If you doubt me, just turn on the television.
However, we have a choice. We can choose to become victims or we can become victors depending on how we respond to these terrible acts of violence. As a nation, we must move forward with integrity and be tolerant of the differences but we must also teach tolerance. We must nurture compassion towards others but we must also teach compassion. As individuals we must avoid indifference by speaking up and letting our voices be heard. When we remain silent we send a message of apathetic acceptance but when we speak up, even of others disagree with us, we are telling the world that we are not indifferent, we are not in a state of apathetic acceptance, we care, we matter, and the victims matter.
The victims of these violent acts have lost their voice but we have not and when we speak up for what we believe we honor them and become their voice. Speak up America! Our words could be the first step towards a positive change.
"There is so much to be done, there is so much that can be done. One person - a Raoul Wallenberg, an Albert Schweitzer, Martin Luther King, Jr. - just one person of integrity, can make a difference, a difference of life and death.
As long as one dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our life will be filled with anguish and shame. What all these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs."
As long as one dissident is in prison, our freedom will not be true. As long as one child is hungry, our life will be filled with anguish and shame. What all these victims need above all is to know that they are not alone; that we are not forgetting them, that when their voices are stifled we shall lend them ours, that while their freedom depends on ours, the quality of our freedom depends on theirs."
Elie Wiesel, Nobel prize speech.
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