On August 7th 1998, it was Nairobi and Dar Es Salaam – over 200 dead. On September 11th 2001 it was New York and the Pentagon – 3000 dead. On June 11th 2010, it was Kampala – over 70 dead. These are just headlines, but the real mayhem happens every day in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, USA and even right here in Kigali. For what reason, one may ask, does someone decide to indiscriminately end innocent lives to prove a point – what point? Terrorism is no longer the preserve of cable television news! It is here today and now. People who claim they have people’s best interests trying to prove their point by killing anyone, anywhere. Those who believe that others should have the same opinion as they, however unreasonable or draconian, or else they pay with their lives, are the true enemies of freedom. Those who kill in the name of God are the enemies of God’s people. For one Osama Bin Laden to kill hundreds of Kenyans to prove a case against America, thousands of miles away is at best escapist. People who seek to use fear to dominate others are the enemies of the people. Here in Rwanda, those who threw grenades indiscriminately to prove some sort of point without even telling the people why they do so are no different of the Osama’s or the Al Shabab’s of this world. They use fear because they fear to sand up to their ideals and defend themselves in public forum. They behave like cowards – killing women and children instead of facing their enemies. We should be aware of religious and other forms of extremism. Matters of faith and God should be between man and God. Anybody who claims that they are holier than though and seek to enforced holiness on others negates the simple and true notion that all men are fickle. Men and women are imperfect. Anybody who claims to be holy should be treated with gloves. This is why we should cherish this freedom – to worship, to express our opinions, to live a normal life. Today, in Somalia, people cannot watch soccer because it is against the law! Many times, am not for the saying that ‘Everybody for himself and God for us all.’ We as individuals have overall responsibility to maintain the morals of our children, our communities, our families but we do not have the right to kill others because they do not believe in the same God that we profess our faith for. We should condemn and reject terrorism, in all its forms and realize that terrorism is a threat to the basics of our existence – the freedom to be who we chose to be, and which God we chose to worship. We should not be cowed by their despicable acts that seek to use fear to cover up for their weaknesses. That is hard to say for families that lose relatives or friends to these acts – it sounds insensitive, but the truth is we cannot give in to terrorism. Terrorism in the new frontier of human conflict. It is not fought by guns and planes, but in the minds and hearts of people. They seek to influence you with intense pain and fear but they fear more than anyone else. Hence we need to protect our freedoms; we need to be on the watch out for our freedoms. I wish you an open-minded Sunday! kelviod@yahoo.com
