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What_will_come_next

Feature Article September 19

Feature Article September 19, 2001

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What will come next?by David Brison what_will_come_next The horrendous and inhuman acts of September 11 shook the world. Our little corner of that world in Eastern Ontario is by no means immune from the instability that a terrorist attack on our neighbours has caused. Everyone I know in my world is deeply troubled and worried. They, along with millions of others, are scarred by the fanaticism behind the attacks. We now know that for years, the hijackers quietly devoted themselves, while in our midst, to a plan that would result in the end of their lives along with countless others. It was done for a cause. The cause, simply stated, is to reject the influence and intrusion of western culture on Islamic governments across the Middle East. It is a cause fuelled by their religious beliefs - although religious leaders across the world, including the Reverend Bruce Geddes of Sharbot Lake, have hastened to point out that there is no basis in the Koran for their actions. My friends and neighbours fear what will come next. There are terrorist cells, sharing these extremist beliefs, in at least 34 countries across the world, including our own. They will be very hard to smoke out. In the aftermath of the attacks, leaders in the U.S. government, supported by public opinion polls, are calling for retaliation and revenge. What will come next? What the people I've talked to seem to be worried about is that retaliation and revenge might result in the death of countless innocent civilians who don't share these extremist beliefs. At the heart of their fear is the notion that violent retaliation will lead to an ever escalating pattern of violence around the world. We don't have to look far to find examples of what hatred, based on centuries of conflict, can lead to. The image of an African-American girl in Little Rock, Arkansas being spit on by adults when she tried to go to school is forever etched in my mind; and now after all these years, other young children in Ireland are facing verbal and physical abuse as they try to go to school. Russia has leveled Chechnya with bombs in an attempt to smoke out terrorists, but they just took to the hills, and now kidnap innocent victims daily. There seems to be no end to the Israeli/Palestinian conflicts. The world watched on while millions of people were slaughtered in Rwanda in internal ethnic strife. Can't we do it a different way? Prime Minister Jean Chrien has said that what is needed is patience and wisdom. He has already been criticized for saying that. But he is right - the world's resources of patience and wisdom are exactly what need to be tapped -- and they will be sorely tested in the foreseeable future. What will come next will depend on how wisely we can act to ensure that we have long-term solutions to very serious problems. In the Philippines, Cardinal Jaime Sin, has said, "Let us pray that this inhuman act will awake in the hearts of the world's peoples a firm resolve to reject the ways of violence; to combat everything that sows hatred and division within the human family." We all need to awaken to our own tendencies towards hatred and violence. It must be a priority to ensure that already existing racism at home, particularly towards our Muslim communities, doesn't escalate. Our rural northern communities are multi-cultural, and we can all reach out to our friends and neighbours and let them know that we support them and will do everything possible to protect them from violence. President Bush on Monday visited Muslim communities to show his support. Chrien has cautioned against ethnic and racial violence in the aftermath of the attacks. We all have to awaken our own hearts; to seek out what we do to arouse hatred in others and look inward for our own tendencies towards violence and hatred -- to try to love and forgive. We can't expect others to do it if we won't try ourselves. Perpetrators of violence have to be brought to justice and held responsible for their actions. However, It has to be done in a way that others in the world see as fair and just.

With the participation of the Government of Canada