Where is the Terrorism?

It is easy to watch the news tonight and be saddened, angry and perhaps even a little self righteous the gunman in Sydney tonight.....but consider this. This man is someone's son, could be someone's brother, someone's friend, someone's uncle or even someone's father. He's a human being, same as you and I, and as uncomfortable as it might be to hear - he wasn't born evil.

There's an old saying "evil thrives when good people do nothing" - but its not even as obvious as that. The truth is, evil thrives because WE perpetuate it. This man wasn't born in a vacume - evil starts when we open our mouths to bitch about others (and believe me I'm as guilty as anyone!) Evil thrives when we have a bad attitude about waiting in line. Evil thrives when we don't care about others. Evil thrives when we form little cliques in our workplace and deliberately exclude people. Evil thrives when we are shitty to one another. Evil thrives when we take sides, when we allow bitching to go on ad naseum, and when we only look after our own self interests. Evil thrives when we allow others to run down those who we deem unworthy. Evil thrives when we look down at other people and feel superior - yes, even superior to a terrorist.

Because the truth is - we are ALL terrorists. We tear eachother down, we make other people feel small, we attack those who are weak and those who we "dont like" for whatever reason. We bully and bitch and shove eachother around. We are really really CRAPPY to each other, we cut each other off in traffic, we cut into queues, we are selfish and self centred. This is where terrorism starts. This is where evil starts.

If you want to know why this is happening - look within. That's where it starts. And until we learn to genuinely love each other as children of God, there will always be radicals with guns and there will always be people out there who wish to do you harm. The day it ends will be the day we put down our loaded guns and egos and put other people before ourselves. It will be the day we put down our phones, laptops and tablets and instead invest in each other. It will be the day we learn how to love.

It will be the day we realise that the only true anti terrorism measures worth taking are the ones we take in our own hearts, to ensure that the evil in this world is not perpetuated in us.

Let there be peace on earth, and let it begin with me. Amen