Ahimsa

I wrote this text on january 8, my heart exploding with sadness and my head exploding with shame and guilt after the atrocious murders at Charlie Hebdo. I wrote because I needed to, it's my way of coping with things. It wasn't meant to be shared and I hadn't read it since. But when I came across it today I felt like it belonged here.

I am a citizen of the world, I don't live in France anymore but I was born and raised in France, it is still one of my homes and I cannot pretend not to be concerned by what's happening around me.

More than ever I want to spread Love, tolerance, understanding, forgiveness, non-violence.

What happened is horryfying, but we mustn't let violence into our hearts, we mustn't blame, hate, point fingers. We have to Love, and Love more. 

We are Charlie but we are also the Kouachi brothers. By our unconsciousness, our unwillingness to see what happens all over the world, our blindness, we are enabling violence.

We might not be directly killing people but we are letting them die. We must start taking responsibility for our actions and our non-actions. 

Thousands of people died on january 7, not 12. 

The fact is we are lucky. We are lucky because 12 dead is the most deadly attack we had in fifty years. A lot of countries see their population decrease by the hundred every day and it is not less horrfic just because it happens outside of our frontiers. I am not minimizing what happened. IT IS horrific. But horror is everywhere, all the time. And it has to stop. We have to stop looking for culprits and punishing them. Violence is NEVER a solution. Violence is for the weak. We have to heal. Heal society, heal the world, heal ourselves.  We have to open our eyes, our hearts, and our conscience. We have to heal the world. We have to wake up. Something like this should never happen again in our "pays des droits de l'homme" but it should never happen again. Ever. Nowhere.

Nothing justifies killing. Not a caricature in a magazine, not even another killing. We have to chose Love over violence, Love over vengeance, Love over blame, Love over pride, Love over grief, Love over power.

We have to EDUCATE populations. The weapons we need are words, pens, thoughts, books and LOVE. Children must learn that differences make the world richer, that my neighbour's truth doesn't hurt my truth. 

We need to turn to ourselves, learn to know who we are. 

If you know who you are, nobody can hurt you, and a drawing won't shatter your beliefs.

If you know who you are, you don't mind your neighbour being who he is. 

If you know who you are, nobody is your master and nobody (not a dictator nor a "god") can make you do anything, make you kill anyone. 

We should never do anything in the name of anyone else. 

We need to take responsibility for our actions. Everyone is responsible for themselves. Stop hiding behind religion, patriotism, or whatnot; you are the one holding the gun and pulling the trigger. Take responsibility and let go of the gun. Nobody but you is forcing you. Change yourself and the world will change. YOU ARE IN CONTROL. THE POWER IS IN YOUR HANDS.