Stronger Together: A Response to Violence

Last Friday, an estimated 129 people were killed and another 350 people were wounded in three separate attacks carried out on the central city of Paris. While the world has been left in complete shock and devastation, the question of “How could this happen again?” still occupies most of our thoughts. It seems that over the past couple of years, or even weeks, our world has become prone to more violence and we are left wondering, in frustration, what we can do to help. We wonder, “Can we do anything to prevent this from happening again?” or “Will it ever get better?”I believe it will get better. I believe that we have both a power within us individually and an undeniable force collectively that can eradicate violence and restore joy and peace.Just about two years ago, I found myself in the beautiful City of Light. Paris has long been associated with light, love, magic, and beauty, and I was excited to go back after having first given my heart to this captivating city when I was just 18 years old. This time, though, my trip to Paris had placed me there just two weeks after the orchestrated attack on Charlie Hebdo. One day, I got on the metro and traveled to the memorial site where thousands of messages, flowers, and other sentimental gifts paid homage to the twelve individuals who had lost their lives in the attack. One message that gripped my heart read, “12 personnes à terre, 66 millions debout” which can be translated to mean “12 people fallen, 66 million people standing”. This message left such a profound impact on me because it beautifully illustrated a response to violence. You see, we do have a powerful reaction to violence. We are capable of responding to violence when we align ourselves with one another and when we draw upon the strength that we find in ourselves and in each other.Standing up against violence in our personal lives and on a massive scale may cause us to respond in a way that we would not normally be inclined to. Where love, joy, and peace may be wholly absent or even partially concealed in these acts of violence, we must prevail in order to find them. Our reaction to violence, then, may lead us to cover those who succumb to violence with compassion, grace, and empathy, and to empower those victims of violence with love, peace, and hope. We must love in spite of violence so that our love not only affects the circumstances of violence, but so that our love begins to transform our own hearts. With this outpour of love and grace, we may find ourselves reaching out to that lonely kid at school, we may see ourselves comforting someone who has been bullied or teased, and we may listen to someone who entrusts us with their story of pain, abandonment, neglect, or brokenness. In this outpour of love, we may find ourselves learning to understand different people whose values, morals, ideologies, political preferences, religious views, or worldviews may be in opposition to ours. As we begin to grow in this act of love, we may find ourselves acting upon compassion, empathy, and grace to understand and overcome the destruction that may come from painful pasts, bitter hearts, vengeful ambitions, and the sting of abandonment. Combating violence, then, may urge us to selflessly place ourselves in the circumstances of another person. In these instances, we may need to set aside our flaming arrows in order to relate to the humanity of another person. We may need to check our ambitions in order to see the pain of another person. We may need to recognize the way in which we speak to another person or the way in which we talk about another person so as not to allow the language and behaviors of violence infiltrate our lives. We may need to initiate a revolution of compassion and empathy to break through the walls of hatred, bitterness, anger, and shame in order to bring to light the humanity that binds us all together. We may need to suppress the deceit we lead ourselves to believe: that difference separates us, that bitterness alienates us, and that vengeance prevails in destroying us. In finding love, joy, and peace in the midst of violence, we will realize the various ways that we are each bound in our humanity with one another.  When we realize commonalities in each other, when we bind ourselves in the humanity that we share, we will form a unity in combating violence wherever it occurs. It may seem that individually standing up against violence will barely put a dent in the fight against mass atrocity. We may question the validity of turning off an offensive song, of speaking out against a crude joke, or even of boldly confronting violent actions. In trading an act of defense for an act of love and compassion, we may question whether or not these acts of love will truly conquer despair, bitterness, and pain. Yes, these actions, by themselves, may not wholly affect the continuous cycle of violence that is erupting throughout the world, but the collectivity of these individual acts of boldness, courage, integrity, and justice will create a supernatural and transcendent power that will undeniably puncture the prevalence of violence. The way in which we combat violence in our everyday lives, then, becomes significant and worthwhile.  When we realize the importance of individually standing up against violence, our eyes will be opened to the strength and magnitude of the collective impact of our actions. Once we understand that we each possess a power within us to stand up against violence, and once we draw upon that power collectively, we empower ourselves to be agents of transformation. With each action in which we overcome violence, we sustain the hope that our world will, again, know joy and peace. It is in light of this hope that we prevail against tragedies, against darkness, and against immense sorrow, for we know that this hope has the power to break through darkness and to sustain an everlasting peace. While we continue to act upon this hope, we may find ourselves bonded in our collective efforts to find the joy, light, and peace in our humanity, and in joining together to find that light, we may come to realize that we are more powerful together than we could ever be apart.