Fear of threat - Nice July 2016

What occurred on 14th July 2016 in Nice during Bastille Day celebrations was a sheer tragedy of high proportion.  Many people, including children lost their lives.  Not only France mourns for its victims in Nice and its victims of 2015, but the whole world does as well.  President Vladimir Putin of Russia also sent a public message of condolence and solidarity. The unity of nations and people in such struggling times facing tragedy, is vital to helping France recover and manage from this tragic ordeal.  Prayers, thoughts, and words are shared during such times.  Peoples around the world must try and look forward after such difficult loss and tragedy, and celebrate the life of victims (everywhere) the best way they know.  

Crimes of Hate and Violence are not messages which are symbolic of different peoples around the world.  They are sporadic, unimaginable and brutal.  They are actions of a violent and criminal mind. People in a functioning society question: "How and why is there such brutality in the world?" It is hard to conceive the motivations of such people, but psychologically speaking, there is no real linear motivation, but really a thread loose in the pysche, which when it begins to weave in the mind of the criminal, it operates almost independently without control or the recognition of people; it operates without knowing or understanding the 'sacredness to life.' The criminal mind functions at a degenerate level and continues if it is not corrected.  A person operating with such an imbalance has mentally no real common human consideration for their actions.  They have functioned from the singularity and isolation of their own thought-process, which may entail many contributing hateful voices or thoughts or emotions which bear no inference on common people.  There is no real understanding behind such brutal actions only the understanding that people are corrupted by hateful and prejudice thoughts and ideas. 

People may also ask: "Why does God allow such evil to occur?" One religious answer could say, God has not allowed tragedy or evil to occur but it is an occurrence of all people in one world.  God allows 'Free Choice' in the world and every person is free to make a choice, which God does not dictate. God guides and rarely does God instruct people.  Faith is lived until death. Their Faith gives them their afterlife.  At death Faith heals the mourning and secures their beliefs in compassion and the goodness in humanity.  God and Faith in such tragic times is the good force opposing evil.  Evil and the concept of the Devil (the entity of evil) is the force attempting to defeat all that is Good in the world.  People with goodness in their hearts and souls attempt to counter-act evil's force in the world; the corruptive, debalitating forces which have no place. 

On the surface it may look like in the wake of the Paris attacks of January and November 2015 it was an attack which coincided with the previous two other tragic events which were motivated by a group of terrorist extremists (ISIL).  The attacker on Nice had a previous road rage conviction and there is only at this point suspicion of an affiliation with a terrorist group.  The majority of lives lost due to terrorist attacks since the year 2000 have occurred in the Middle East (Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Pakistan), Nigeria, and India.  Yet what must be known is around over the last ten years, 70% of 'Western' terrorist attacks are committed by "lone wolf" individuals bent on anti-establishment and disorder (found in Global Index 2015).  At the same time however it cannot be ignored 'Western' terrorist attacks have heightened in the last year because of ISIL or religious extremism, particularly in Europe. 

Fear of evil, fear of hate or fear of violence is very worrying and it can change perceptions on life and people.  However if the common features in people are known, like individuality; the right to exist; and the sense for appreciation and sanctity of life, then people can share more compassion in humanity and appreciate people more.  Acts of Hate should not encourage more Hate. 

Peoples around the world Today through Hope and Appreciation for one another, will overcome fear of threat and violence, and help each other in combating violence before it can occur.  In the words of President Barack Obama, "We cannot let ourselves be divided by religion because that’s exactly what [they] want...we should never do their work for them."

Hope against Fear is hugely significant in society and people must not fall short when pride or emotions conflict with their morals.  Human morality is a splendour so divine it should be for all the world to see, sense, and share.  Morality assists in the conflicts of the mind and ideally it should guide people to know right from wrong, good from bad, and how to act and how not to act in the face of such troubling times. 

Hearts, minds and prayers for Nice and President François Hollande.  Rene Cassin, once said in his acceptance speech of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968. "I adore my country with a heart that transcends its borders.  The more I am French, the more I feel a part of humanity".