11-17-2015, 03:06 PM
Below is an open and defiant letter to ISIS from a Parisian man who lost his wife in the recent attacks. It left me in tears.
If I imagine myself in his shoes, it would be the greatest challenge of my life not to return hatred for the senseless killing, especially when the hatred removed that which was most dear to you. I’m not sure that I would succeed. A large part of me would want to return the pain, tenfold.
But with tears I recognize his letter below as the greater way, way of Truth - however difficult that road may be to walk.
I bow before his courage and strength. And pray for all those who suffer in this and similar acts of senseless violence.
(translation)
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YOU WILL NOT HAVE MY HATRED
Friday night, you took an exceptional life -- the love of my life, the mother of my son -- but you will not have my hatred. I don't know who you are and I don't want to know, you are dead souls. If this God, for whom you kill blindly, made us in his image, every bullet in the body of my wife would have been one more wound in his heart.
So, no, I will not grant you the gift of my hatred. You're asking for it, but responding to hatred with anger is falling victim to the same ignorance that has made you what you are. You want me to be scared, to view my countrymen with mistrust, to sacrifice my liberty for my security. You lost.
I saw her this morning. Finally, after nights and days of waiting. She was just as beautiful as when she left on Friday night, just as beautiful as when I fell hopelessly in love over 12 years ago. Of course I am devastated by this pain, I give you this little victory, but the pain will be short-lived. I know that she will be with us every day and that we will find ourselves again in this paradise of free love to which you have no access.
We are just two, my son and me, but we are stronger than all the armies in the world. I don't have any more time to devote to you, I have to join Melvil who is waking up from his nap. He is barely 17-months-old. He will eat his meals as usual, and then we are going to play as usual, and for his whole life this little boy will threaten you by being happy and free. Because no, you will not have his hatred either.
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*This letter was posted to his Facebook account here. I watched the number of shares go from 115,000 to 124,000 in less than an hour.
*This OP is not a focus on the Paris attacks specifically, but about returning love for hatred. Threads examining the Paris attack itself outside of the scope of this OP can be made in Spiritual Implications forum, or, to the extent it is related, in Plenum's "rumors of war" thread.
If I imagine myself in his shoes, it would be the greatest challenge of my life not to return hatred for the senseless killing, especially when the hatred removed that which was most dear to you. I’m not sure that I would succeed. A large part of me would want to return the pain, tenfold.
But with tears I recognize his letter below as the greater way, way of Truth - however difficult that road may be to walk.
I bow before his courage and strength. And pray for all those who suffer in this and similar acts of senseless violence.
(translation)
************************************************************
YOU WILL NOT HAVE MY HATRED
Friday night, you took an exceptional life -- the love of my life, the mother of my son -- but you will not have my hatred. I don't know who you are and I don't want to know, you are dead souls. If this God, for whom you kill blindly, made us in his image, every bullet in the body of my wife would have been one more wound in his heart.
So, no, I will not grant you the gift of my hatred. You're asking for it, but responding to hatred with anger is falling victim to the same ignorance that has made you what you are. You want me to be scared, to view my countrymen with mistrust, to sacrifice my liberty for my security. You lost.
I saw her this morning. Finally, after nights and days of waiting. She was just as beautiful as when she left on Friday night, just as beautiful as when I fell hopelessly in love over 12 years ago. Of course I am devastated by this pain, I give you this little victory, but the pain will be short-lived. I know that she will be with us every day and that we will find ourselves again in this paradise of free love to which you have no access.
We are just two, my son and me, but we are stronger than all the armies in the world. I don't have any more time to devote to you, I have to join Melvil who is waking up from his nap. He is barely 17-months-old. He will eat his meals as usual, and then we are going to play as usual, and for his whole life this little boy will threaten you by being happy and free. Because no, you will not have his hatred either.
************************************************************
*This letter was posted to his Facebook account here. I watched the number of shares go from 115,000 to 124,000 in less than an hour.
*This OP is not a focus on the Paris attacks specifically, but about returning love for hatred. Threads examining the Paris attack itself outside of the scope of this OP can be made in Spiritual Implications forum, or, to the extent it is related, in Plenum's "rumors of war" thread.
Explanation by the tongue makes most things clear, but love unexplained is clearer. - Rumi
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