Countering Terrorism with Peace

They were humiliated and mistreated, and they couldn’t take it anymore. So they took a stand. They went into extensive training for the fight. They knew it would be hard and long. They had to be mentally, spiritually, and physically prepared. When the day of confrontation arrived, every hour of training was worth it. Although they were shouted at, pushed, spat upon, and beaten, they did not fight back with angry words or fists, but with love. They won, peacefully.

I wish I didn't have to write this. I wish I was writing an Easter message about lent leading to resurrection, or videos and stories about meeting Martin Luther King, Jr.'s family in Atlanta this month, or news from the peace and justice conference I attended there. But a tragedy has struck my city, Toronto, and I am compelled to walk the long path back to peace with my fellow Torontonians, and the others around the world whose hearts are with us at this time.If you aren't familiar with the event, a young Canadian man, Alek Minassian, plowed a van at full speed down a pedestrian-filled sidewalk on Toronto's main street on April 23, 2018, killing 10 and injuring 15 others. The suspected motivation for the attack is anger over a type of social ostracism called involuntary celibacy. When I heard of the tragedy on Monday, I listened to the news for hours, watching the situation unfold, seeking to know what had happened. The work I had been doing paled in significance to the fight for life and security on Yonge Street.

Sue Klebold is the mother of Dylan Klebold, one of the youth who committed murder/suicide in Cobumbine on April 20, 1999. In this transparent reflection, Sue shares, "It was appallingly easy for a 17-year-old boy to buy guns both legally and illegally without my permission or knowledge and somehow, 17 years and many school shootings later, it is still appallingly easy.” Sue says upon reflection, her son’s spiral into a mental health crisis happened over a 2 year period. She deeply loved her son, but says “love is not enough” to prevent suicide. Since 15% of American youth report having made a suicide plan in the last year, Sue urges us to “listen with our whole being without judgement and without offering solutions” to the youth in our life. Even if we cannot see their pain, as she did not, it may be deeply affecting them and they need a supporting listener.

Gill Hicks, who survived a suicide bombing in London, used a tragedy that was meant to kill her to change her life. Gill says, “Throughout all the chaos my hand was held tightly. My face was stroked gently. What did I feel? I felt loved. What’s shaded me from hatred and wanting retribution, what’s given me the courage to say, ‘This ends with me,’ is love. I was loved. I believe the potential for widespread positive change is absolutely enormous because I know what we’re capable of. I know the brilliance of humanity. So this leaves me with some pretty big things to ponder and some questions for us all to consider. Is what unites us not far greater than what could ever divide? Does it have to take a tragedy or a disaster for us to feel connected as one species, as human beings? And when will we embrace the mystery of our era to rise above mere tolerance and move to an acceptance for all who are only a label until we know them?” Gill’s experience of the love of strangers was so powerful it countered even the hatred of a terrorist. And with God’s strength, prayer, and deep understanding, we can find compassion and love even for terrorists.