Column by Gisselle Hernandez, Assistant Features Editor
The world suffered a tragedy on Friday. Lives of brothers and sisters were lost, and heartache was felt around the world. Ultimately, there was grief.
No one is allowed to undermine that. No one.
No one ever said other countries aren’t suffering due to ISIS. The media does not neglect to cover other heartbreaking tragedies across the world. YOU do.
What happened in Paris was a terrible, terrible, unforgivable act. One that affects everyone, not just Parisians. That does not mean we are solely focusing on the famous City of Love, so quit trying to seem altruistic when, in fact, all you’re doing is undermining the grief of others.
How can you possibly say that “Paris isn’t the only one suffering from ISIS.” Of course it isn’t! It upsets me greatly when people turn to selfish, uninformed individuals because they are the ones that do not listen to bombings happening in Beirut and Syria. Those are covered by the media, too, and frequently.
Don’t undermine the horrible catastrophe that happened in France to other ISIS doings elsewhere, such as in Beirut. The grieving is equal, because in all cases, lives are lost, and that’s the bottom line.
Another thing that is disconcerting is the lack of actual action. By all means, do pray for Paris. I completely agree we should send our prayers. But honestly, a simple hashtag isn’t going to do jack. Changing your profile picture is next to useless, other than trying to show others you “care” about the world, for most of you out there.
As the Dalai Lama said, “We cannot solve this problem only through prayers. We are asking God to solve it and it is illogical. God would say, solve it yourself because you created it in the first place.”
It’s up to us to do something, not sit on our butts behind a screen and pretend we care. Social media is horrific in the hands of uneducated individuals during a tragedy such as this. I remember the audacity of an individual sharing a picture of a map of France on Facebook captioning it, “Show me where Paris is. I’ll wait.” I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know where Beirut is either. Whether you know the location of the city being affected or not, showing actual support and implementing action is what truly matters.
I know millions across the world were deeply heart-wrenched by this, but I think many younger people do not exactly know the gravity of this situation.
I’m not saying to not show your compassion and care for it publicly, but let’s try to do more than start some “trend.” For the war to end between us, it must first start within us.
