On Friday, December 16, a terrorist attack carried out by a little girl with a bomb strapped to her, detonated by terroristic forces within a police station, shocked the people of Damascus, Syria. More specifically, the attack shocked those who read about it, as it went widely unreported by worldwide mainstream media, falling by the wayside in favor of other stories.
This isn’t an uncommon occurrence–there are almost too many attacks to accurately and thoroughly report on and cover each one. This is an unfortunate truth of today’s world, a world in which battle deaths and terrorism are at an all-time high.
To some, the lack of coverage of these attacks serves as a break from the vile things occurring in the world. Staying up-to-date on the news and learning about what is happening around the world in an unvetted and uncensored manner is important, it’s equally important to keep sight of what the end goal of all of us–of humanity–should be: peace. Unfortunately, there seems as though there is so little peace to report on with such a large quantity of hatred, war and terrorism spreading throughout the modern world.
The attacks carried out by Muslim extremists serve not to further the cause of their people, but to hinder it. In addition to the literal victims of the heinous attacks and their families, the group possible most harmed by attacks from ISIS and other extremist organizations are, in fact, Muslims. An attack is carried out, people are killed, and the world turns on a religious group.
To solve this problem and prevent those in the future, we must not ask that countries retain an “out of sight, out of mind” outlook on the situation. We must instead prioritize unity and the coming together of global superpowers to squash terrorism. When the Russian ambassador to Turkey Andrey Karlov was shot dead, Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Erdogan each individually condemned the attack, speaking out against violent terrorism. This should be a preview of what the world powers do in what will become a global effort to defeat terrorism.
The way to defeat terrorism is by unity and education, not ostracization. The more we can educate ourselves and those around us, the better we can understand how to finally defeat the evil in this world. Proverbs 18:15 states “An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.” Seek out knowledge Sometimes, people turn to scripture for solace during these times; others remain strongly against religion. However the truth remains that some lessons contained within the books of the Bible can be applied to everyday life.
As proverbs 12:20 says, “Deceit is in the hearts of those who plot evil, but those who promote peace have joy.”
We have separate belief systems, separate customs, different countries, different currencies, different practices and different laws, but we are all human beings. We are all people who seek to leave this world better than it was when we entered it. That can only be accomplished through peace, education and striving for a better future. By coming together both as a people and as powerful governments, we must all seek to better the world. Through cooperation we can create peace.
