What Can I Say About Paris?

What can I say about Paris? What can I say about Beirut? What can I say about what’s happening in the world right now?

I’m not sure. At this moment, my words are uneasy.

I have no eloquent articulation for these events – my mind struggles to find words to understand what happened yesterday in Paris, what happened in Beirut two days ago, or what has happened in countless events across the globe where innocent people were killed. I can’t make sense of it – it is senseless.

These attacks break my heart. It breaks my heart to think of the friends and families who woke up this morning to a world with out their loved one. I cannot fathom their pain, but I grieve for their loss. My heart also breaks for Paris and for France; for Beirut and for Lebanon – and for the pain, confusion and loss they face today.

My prayer is for peace. My hope is for love to overcome hate. When I woke up this morning, famous words from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. came to mind:

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

It wasn’t until this morning that I looked up the context of that quote – and it provided even more inspiration. For anyone else who is also grasping for meaning after the events of this week, I hope that these words will also speak hope and inspiration into your search for meaning:

“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy, instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

(p. 67, Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community).

We must find a response that rises above violence. My invitation is to muster the courage to respond today with love; to seek peace and find ways to pursue it; and to pray. Pray for peace in Paris, Beirut and throughout the world.

“I still believe that love is the most durable power in the world” – Martin Luther King, Jr.