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Maria Stepek
Doherty
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I waited all
morning and all afternoon for the anger to come. I expected it. I
anticipated it. It didn't come.
I waited for the hatred to fill me
up. I waited for the desire to wipe them from the face of the earth to
take me over. It stayed away.
I waited for the tears to flow as
they did on the day of 9/11. I watched the ambulances take away the
wounded and the dead. I watched the fear and panic on the faces of people
in a city that I love. My eyes are dry.
I found myself wondering
why I am not angry, why I am not filled with hatred, why I cannot cry. As
I responded to friends across the world, the realisation grew inside me,
that I cannot be angry, I cannot hate and I cannot cry because then the
darkness would win. In my anger I would give the terrorists fuel for their
anger. In my hatred, I would amplify their hatred and the world has more
than enough of that already. In my tears, they would see victory and I
will never ever grant them that. I will not let them win.
I sent
this message to a friend a little while ago and it speaks what is in my
heart,
"Once again we watch in horror as the news of these
atrocities fill our homes. New
York,
Bali,
Madrid, now
London. What utter
madness.
We do not live in a world full of hate. We live in a
world where a pitifully small number of deranged individuals have banded
together to wreak their evil madness on those whose only wish is to live
in peace. They are the same percentage of the population who are the
psychopaths, the serial killers, the molestors, the mindlessly violent.
They have as much power over us as we permit them to have. They can blow
us up; they can slaughter us; they can take our children from us; they can
leave us in wheelchairs,but they can only touch our souls if we let
them.
I refuse to react in anger. I refuse to allow them to disturb
the peace of my soul. I refuse to alter my life. I refuse to be afraid. I
refuse to give them any power over my life. I scorn them. I pity them. I
would see them hounded to the ends of the earth and all trace of them
removed from the planet, but I will not hate them and I will not fear
them. I will not let them win. "
We will stand together against
this darkness and we will win. We have what they can never have in their
lives. We have peace and we have love. They make a grave mistake when they
mistake that for weakness. We will win and they will be ashes in the winds
of time.
Maria
Doherty |
