I CHOOSE LOVE

                                               

  

                                          An attack is an attack is an attack. Period.

In just the spate of a day there have been numerous posts in support of the people of Paris, France. In yet some others, there have been posts that outline the fact that there are many other areas and countries that have faced similar if not more devastating attacks and yet have not received the kind of coverage or sympathy even, that has followed the attacks in Paris. 

My point and the bottom line is, as horrific as it sounds, people are dead. A brother, sister, husband, wife, daughter, son that once laughed and played and sat beside you now is no more. In the blink of an eye the world of these families has changed forever more. I cannot even begin to imagine or fathom how that would feel, what that would mean, how I could, would react to that. 

However, just because a particular attack doesn't get reported or have the kind of coverage it deserves, does it in any way diminish the tragedy that the family faces? 

Too often and in countless numbers, all across the globe are people, families that face tremendous challenges and not just in the aftermath of a tragedy such as this. Too many are never reported, the news never reaching the mainstream media.

We do not have to look too far to know that this is true. Take Manipur, for instance, my home state, or even Nepal, a country that I not only share family but friends with. Every day there itself, is a tale that needs to be told and yet nothing. 

Does it make me feel resentful, angry, frustrated? Yes it does, most certainly it does; at the apathy, the injustice and the voices that cannot be heard, will perhaps never be heard. It angers me, this the selective process that singles out which and whose misfortunes should be preferred above others.

And yet. 

What is needed though now is to do what we can, to say what we can, in any way we can, to alleviate the suffering of those around us rather than disparage the fact that the world doesn't care or that it chooses to be selective in whom it wishes to show its sympathy. 

What I do know is that we are called to be the salt and the light; to add meaning to the lives around us and to share an inexplicable hope where there often seems to be none. 

Let us not forget for a minute that there is evil in this world. Evil that surpasses understanding. 

So today I mourn. 

For every child that will never see a father again. In Manipur. Gunned down by an extremist who believed his way was better.

For a mother that will never see a son grow into the man she thought she would see. In Nepal. Struck down by an erring bullet of a man that had sworn to protect and to serve.

For every free man, woman and child that lived and loved under the free skies. In Paris. Felled by a cause that knows no light.

And for every soldier, every policeman, every single man and woman that has stood in the line of fire so that I might live and live free.

                                                     Today I mourn and I weep. 

And yet, in spite of it all, even though to many of us, life may not always give us a second chance, it still does gives us a choice, every single day, when the dawn breaks over the horizon.

And so even though I mourn, I choose. I choose faith. I choose hope. I choose love.

Because I am every human….  And I will choose love. 

                    Every single time.