It has now been several days since the Paris attacks of 13 November 2015 and I feel compelled to add my humble perspective after reading or listening to all sorts of thoughts conveyed by people around the world in social networks as well as news media of all types.
I am lucky to be able to read or understand several
languages, mainly English, French and Spanish. Luck has it too that I have also
been able to live and work in the Caribbean, in Latin America, in Europe and in
India. But before you think I am some jet-set chick on a permanent holiday, I
have to say in my defense that although I have traveled to many places, some of
them were not exactly tourist-friendly or safe. In some of the safest countries
I have also been violently told I don’t belong there and to “go home”. The good
thing is, I find every experience enriching!
I try to maintain myself informed about world peace by
reading and listening to news written in Europe, the Americas, Asia or Africa
whenever I get an opportunity within my busy schedule. I am guilty of not being
particularly fond of far right-wing media… but I have to check it too sometimes
to make up my own mind about a given event. And yes, I also give a daily glance
to Al Jazeera.
But let me take you further back in time. I was born in
Mexico, more specifically along the USA border. Ever since I was 4 years old, I
decided it was important to listen to people’s perspectives. You see, I was
born to a French father and a Mexican mother. I grew up under dictatorship in
Mexico but crossed the border everyday to go to a school in the democratic USA.
My school was Catholic and my family atheist.
My entire life has been a constant convergence of
perspectives and I learned early on that every human being wants to be
happy.
As far as happiness goes, I remember a lovely childhood in
Mexico eating tamales, listening to Rock en Español music, breaking birthday
piñatas and watching telenovelas. Since school across the USA-Mexico border was
in English, I also grew up enjoying Saturday Night Live satire, watching Snoopy
cartoons, plastering the walls of my bedroom with Duran Duran posters and
reading tons of English books.
While I was learning the messianic American perspective of
World War II in History class at my USA school, my French father educated me on
brave family members who resisted German occupation in France, some of them
becoming prisoners in Nazi concentration camps. Later on, in my teenage years,
one of my best friends was German. I believe her mother was secretary to
Himmler (major Nazi bad guy) during World War II. My family, despite its past,
loved my friend. She and her parents welcomed and cajoled me for a week in
Munich too. There I realized that my
friend’s mom was forced to learn to cope with the guilt she felt regarding her
role in the war. She had become a psychologist, to help others.
I was learning from all these experiences that war,
resentment, possessiveness, jealousy or anger benefits nobody’s happiness and I
believed, as a youngster that I was, that everyone would eventually learn the
same.
I have observed war, dictatorships, racism and terror from
close and from afar throughout my life. When the World Trade Center towers fell
to the ground only a week after I had visited New York in 2001, I felt immense
pain for humanity. Later on, when Mumbai (India) faced simultaneous terror
attacks in 2008, I stayed glued to the TV screen for 3 straight days in my home
in France, unable to sleep or eat properly for a full week.
At the time, Western media mainly covered the events in
Mumbai by talking about victims in tourist areas and posh hotels that Western
people frequented. I felt annoyed and resentful. The simultaneous attacks had
also caused impressive carnage and Indian bloodshed in other areas that were
merely or not even mentioned. Eventually, the final count was: 136 Indian
casualties and 28 foreign casualties. Why was the media being so
disproportionate in the West?
But let’s fast-forward to Paris for a moment. In recent days
I have encountered annoyed comments, cartoons, articles and posts in news and
social media similar to: “What’s all the fuss about my big brother (France)?
Look at me (insert another country’s name)! I also got run down by a car and am
at the hospital with bigger wounds in the bed next to his. Why not shower ALL
the attention on me instead? Forget my older brother. He was searching for it.”
Although I completely understand where this type of resentment comes from,
because I have personally felt it regarding the Mumbai attacks, I am not convinced
that the world’s current violent context will change for the better based on
this type of knee-jerk reaction.
Requesting Facebook to set up a Safety Check service after
the Nigeria bombing, just like it did for the Paris attacks is wonderful. Writing
to your local media to ask them to be more informative regarding a certain
event is too. In a context of war however, I find that exhorting readers or
individuals to avoid expressing solidarity with certain victims of terrorism
anywhere in the world may prove counterproductive. Here’s the thing: the result
is divisive, not peace-seeking.
Quoting Benito Taibo, a Mexican author who warns against
sharing these types of posts in social media, I cannot help but agree. He says:
“We are so angry that we are even turning this anger towards those people who
are actually on our side.” He explains, “The barbaric acts observed in Paris
are the same barbaric acts committed in Beirut, in Ayotzinapa, in Guerrero or
in Syria. (…) Those who die or suffer are, in each and every case, common
citizens, just like you and me.”
Even though it may seem unfair, we cannot expect Western
people or other individuals around the world who probably once enjoyed a
wonderful trip to Paris not to feel for the French capital. Similarly, it is
perfectly normal for Indian people to flood their news channels with what was
happening in their own town in 2008, or for the Middle East to do so about
Lebanon when events unfold there, etc. We need to remember that one feels more
pain when one’s father dies than when someone else’s does and this is natural
even though it may seem unfair. Trying to balance things out might be noble but
it does not mean we get to tell people when to stop mourning or for who. Grieve
and let grieve.
The day after the Paris attacks, my husband was flying out
of guess where? Paris. Even as I was concerned for his safety, my thoughts were
also with the Paris victims but also those of the Russian and Lebanese attacks.
Furthermore, I thought of the mothers of the young men who had just committed
all these atrocities. I would feel devastated if my own child had killed
innocent people. I do not pity the boys who committed these crimes but I am a
mother and wish their mothers all the peace in the world. I refuse to listen to
people who might understand my position as discounting the victims’ suffering.
As I felt increasingly concerned this week about this small
but divisive trend in social media and the news, I felt compelled to write. I
don’t know if my words will make the slightest difference, but I have at least
made it a point to share my perspective and hope that it might help another
soul to see and dream wider.
Seeing wider may mean that we accept that religion, the
media or rulers are imperfect and unable to provide absolutely impartial news.
We must be personally responsible for looking for alternate sources of
information to enrich our views. Let’s read, listen or ponder more, also taking
care to put ourselves in other people’s shoes as often as possible. Why not
also seek peace within ourselves and with the people we interact daily? If you
are lucky enough to feel peaceful and well-informed, why not continue to spread
peace and good will or compassion to everyone else, the way you hopefully
already are?
Tragedy strikes humans, not flags. Whenever I hear about
tragic stories in countries I have never been to or even in places that I have
had links to such as Lebanon, Irak, Jamaica, the USA or Mexico, my sentiment
has always been utter pain. Thankfully, during my travels, I have also seen
French people create associations to aid Colombians, Indians raise funds for
Brazilians, Belgians help Guatemalans… In India I have friends who are Muslim,
Hindu, Sikh, Jain, Christian and Jewish. They are all great human beings. I
wish the best to all of them. Isn’t that what being human is all about?
Let’s read well, inform well, help people coming from
different perspectives to understand and respect each other. Let’s be part of a
movement this world urgently needs. And when we do, I dare hope Yoda’s blessing
in Star Wars will apply to us: “May the Force be with you”. Anyway, what are
you waiting for? Stop reading this and go spread the Peace word around! :-)
Copyright: Mrs. Ranc
