“I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.
I guess I was surprised as anyone on learning of the killing of Osama Bin Laden by US and Pakistani troops earlier in the week.
What came as even more of a surprise to me was the glee exhibited by many US citizens at his death. Now don’t get me wrong I do not and have never supported any acts of terrorism regardless of the ethnicity of their perpetrators. Bin Laden was allegedly the mastermind behind the devastating Trade Centre attacks. If he was responsible for these attacks then justice required that he be apprehended and brought to trial even though the possibility of him actually getting a fair trial would have been negligible.
As yet it is still not clear whether Bin Laden put up a fight and was killed during the course of the ensuing battle or whether the order was to shoot to kill regardless. We will probably never know. Of course he will be replaced by another similarly motivated fanatical follower and no change will happen. Violence only begets more violence. The only antidote to hatred, violence and killing is LOVE.
Only when we have evolved to a point where we are able to embrace the truth that we are all ONE will we be able to tolerate differences and forgive past transgressions no matter how heinous. We unfortunately still occupy a frequency dominated by ego-centredness and power struggles.
As Ghandi stated, for there to be change we must be the change we want to see in the world. This change starts at the very personal level of our own lives. When we are angered (rightly or wrongly) by the actions of another we should take a moment to think what life enhancing and more evolved responses could be. This does not mean we have to sit back and take it. There are ways in which we can respond to challenging events which ensure that we act with integrity and love for the connection we all share at the soul level.
We don’t have to like a person’s personality or the actions which they have committed which are just creations of the egoic mind. We can see beyond that facade to the real and only truth that we are one and the same.
Unity not division is the way towards surviving a constantly and ever increasingly changing world. This is our time to make a difference.