We are human after all

Unrelenting and a force to be reckoned with, the human spirit is what gives us direction and makes our lives worth living. When our lives and our humanity are challenged and not respected, our human spirit compels us to fight back. Fighting for justice makes us human.

We can fight against injustice with civil demonstrations and expressing our freedom of speech. We make our voices heard by peacefully breaking unjust laws and placing our conscience before the law to change it.

When we stop fighting against unjust laws and actions, we become what Henry David Thoreau called, “agents of injustice”. Blind obedience threatens the human spirit.

If we follow without critical eyes and ears, then we become the catalyst to travesty. If we sit by and watch injustice done unto others and fail to act, it is an even greater travesty. As Martin Luther King Jr. wrote in Letter From Birmingham Jail, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Action is necessary.

The world is constantly changing. We have to listen to ourselves to figure out what is right and just. However, bad things tend to happen when we only listen to ourselves. A lack of dialogue between differing opinions breeds ignorance and a circle of pain we cannot break.

Recently, there was a terror attacks on “Charlie Hebdo”, a French satirical newspaper that published multiple cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in unmentionable situations. But to most Western cultures, these drawings were seen as a freedom of expression. Of course, the newspaper has the freedom to publish the cartoons, but the cartoons were discriminatory, malicious in intent, and inexcusable. With no political value, the cartoons disrespected the Islamic culture and the religion.

In a way, the newspaper failed to respect and reflect humanity back to the religion of Islam. When someone fails to reflect humanity back to us, or does injustice towards us, it stirs something within us. That inherent need for respect forces action. The attackers responded with violence.

What the attackers did was undeniably wrong. These acts must be condemned. But it is possible to understand why the attackers acted in the way they responded. The attack was the human spirit responding against what they saw as injustice. Even though the cartoons were inappropriate, killing people you oppose is not the solution.

The rallies of solidarity held around the world are a response for similar reasons that the attackers had -- a response to injustice and a call for fundamental human respect.

We have our most defining moments when we witness acts of injustice, and how we let these acts define us is how we choose to be resilient, but our actions must be peaceful. Our actions can not infringe upon the rights of others.

If we use our freedom to marginalize others, it can push the discriminated to extremism. When our humanity is challenged, we must respond with humanity. When our respect is challenged we must respond with respect. We cannot tear down others; when we tear others down, we go down with them. That is what separates civil demonstrations from terrorism.

#politics #Issue21415 #editorial