Terror on Friday..

New Zealand


I am sad, scared and scarred.

I am sad, when I heard the news I imagined myself being there, among the dead and injured, and I felt sad. In a place of safety, peace and worship, people were killed. Not because of something they did, or did not, but because of how they were perceived, how they are portrayed, and for being different.

And yesterday I was scared, when I attended the Friday prayer, when I walked to my car in the car park, and every moment I thought about the future, I was scared.

Today I woke up pierced with pain, I felt my face and body for the scars of the bullets, and I could feel them on me, felt them many times before in the hatred and vile speeches and headlines that filled our papers, media and Internet.

I do not want to die, or at least not be killed. Not because I love life but because I deserve a chance to life, like everyone else.

People will say do not be defeatist, do let the terrorists win! Save me the rhetoric, they have won, and have been winning all the time, let's accept that to know how to move on.

We allowed this to happen, all of us, and it will happen again. There are 7 billion people on earth, thousands of religions, languages, cultures, ways of life and through out history we have always looked down at some of our fellow humans because they are different, because we are different, because we are right and they are wrong, because we are better. Century or two later and the right became wrong, the better worse, and another group of fellow humans becomes subject to vilification and humiliation and the circle of violence never stops. Maybe now more than any other time we should accept that " humans are one of two, your brothers in faith or equal in humanity".

Life is not beautiful, it is terrible and full of pain and suffering wherever you look. It becomes beautiful when your purpose of being is to help others, I know that sounds like preaching and its boring. So let me try this, don't be an asshole, be nice, do not support, elect, share, watch, read or buy what assholes produce, and be nice, especially to the ones who are "different"..

Ahmad Baker
London 16.03.2019