Sunday, June 12, 2011

Response

In response to my last post, Conversations, Part I , I received this comment from a good friend in the States: "The families of the victims of 9-11 are asking the same question, and the dead victims would ask if they could: 'I didn't do anything wrong. Why am I being punished for something I didn't do?' Maybe your friends can relate?"

I'm not really sure how to respond to this. I know by what I've heard from some students that when 9-11 is mentioned here, the response usually involves numbers of civilian deaths being compared. A good deal of Bush bashing is also often included. I would rather not discuss these topics as I don't find it helpful. I'm much more concerned with forgiveness and healing.

Concerning this question, "Why am I being punished for something I didn't do?" I don't know the answer. But I can see from the perspective of the victims on either side. I remember how it felt to be terrified, watching the twin towers fall and being worried that my family in the military might not come home. I also remember the group of little Iraqi kids, who lived in the same building as me, and who couldn't hear because their ear drums were so damaged by explosions.  

I once heard (though I can't remember where) a tradition of forgiveness practiced in some part of Africa. If someone is murdered, once the murderer is caught he is bound up and thrown into the middle of a lake. The victims family is then given a choice: take revenge by allowing the murderer to drown, or save his life and be free of grief. 

Whose life can I save? If freedom comes by giving life, how can I give more? How can I live forgiveness? Maybe these are the better questions to ask.

5 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "The families of the victims of 9-11 are asking the same question, and the dead victims would ask if they could: 'I didn't do anything wrong. Why am I being punished for something I didn't do?' Maybe your friends can relate?" -- That question seems just flat out ignorant in my opinion, why would your friends be able to relate? They're not mass murderers, he/she just clumped all of the arab/muslim world into one category, the one that bombs and kills innocent people. There's no rational response to a question like that, without sounding a bit rude.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for your comment, Taha, I always appreciate feedback.

    As for my friend's comment/question, she was refering to my previous post, 'Conversations, Part I'. Here is her explanation of her comment:

    "I truly meant that bigotry is so awful on both sides. It doesn't make sense to judge any group of people by the actions of a few. It's wrong. Your friends expressed a very valid question, and I only meant that it's true on both sides, like you mentioned. Thanks for the blogs. Your perspective from that side of the world is so very helpful!"

    ReplyDelete
  4. I dont think we will ever understand why God allows us to be punished for something we didn't do. Even Jesus Christ was brutally punished for things He did not do. That might make "being more like Jesus" a harder thing to accomplish.

    ReplyDelete