When the Barrel Speaks

I woke up to the news of a loss, a life taken, shot and silenced. A shocker but this is not a first of its kind, and it will most likely not be the last as human history moves on. This incident has happened many miles away from my home. But, even in my own homeland the barrel has spoken on many occasions and has silenced voices that dared to rise above their own interest and seek the good of others, voices that did not intersect with the standard opinions; not listened to, but silenced as the barrel spoke

This incident has set in motion various responses. From grief and horror, to celebration, ridicule and mockery. The latter responses are the ones that have left me shaken and angry How infuriatingly quick we are to celebrate death in our prejudice! How foolishly bold we are to bid good riddance rather than see the crime? Why? Just because our thoughts did not meet? Free expression, they say, and yet those who differ do not seem to enjoy that freedom.

Two people may not see eye to eye, but that does not ever justify one doing away with the other. That should not be tolerated. What scares me is this: somewhere, someone decided to take action and went ahead. Not an accidental chance of an opportunity but premeditated, planned, reviewed, decided. Every step towards this was clearly calculated. But that did not scare us, or bring out the horror for some of us to condemn it. On the contrary, we are dancing as though we won a lottery ticket, as though we won at life. We are making crude jokes just to put our point on display, without a thought of the other lives gravely affected by this one deed. Go on, share the brilliant pun you crafted with them We have some brave hard words to say and feel justified doing so, but not horror or shock We refuse to assent to a request to honour just because we want to stand in self-righteous opposition, even in death, simply because, well not one of us, not from our ranks. Where is courtesy? Drowned in partisan prejudices?

To refuse to see the crime is injustice against humanity. To refuse to see the crime is to give a hand to this culture of silencing others at all cost. While we may not fire the barrel aren't we providing the munitions and pointing out the mark with our hatred? Aren't we holding up the barrel by spouting our opinions so brazenly without second thoughts! I shudder to think how we can show no sympathy and pout in pride with no seeming thought on how we must also measure up to our own measure of others. This is not about race. This is not about which side of the fence we stand on. This should never be about any of these and the like. This must be about the culture we are fostering and living in. This must be about a deep soul search of how we have drawn our lines to cage ourselves. Over and above these, this must be about humanity and how it has been wronged, how it is threatened, and how we place ourselves in danger if we choose to justify what is done without pausing to consider the gravity of what was done and what it implies

No one is perfect. Because of our own outlooks, whether formed or influenced, there will be clash of views, possibly give way to sharp disagreement and seeming hatred for each other. But to refuse to acknowledge the other as a worthy opponent, to refuse to extend them that and think them our enemies, or worse beneath us, so much so that their death brings us joy? Let us argue, persuade, debate converse, dialogue through our differences but with a heart of respect for the other. May cruelty not captivate our hearts even in our differences! May we still have courage to call evil and wrong by their names even when it befall those we do not see eye to eye with! If not, we are all the more poorer in our state. When we allow the barrel to speak, we must remember, we too are giving ourselves to be taken hostage by it though we may not feel that way in the moment, though we may think it has spoken for us and administered justice for us.

In the light of such a course, where evil is justified as a means of justice, let us reason together. There is no victory here. There is no cause for celebration. This is true if we do not stand up against such acts, we are in danger of cutting off the very branch of human civility that holds us up.