Last year, my mum and I were lucky enough to visit Gallipoli for the centenary commemorations. We landed in and then left from Istanbul Ataturk Airport, which as you may have heard was the site of a suicide bombing on Tuesday in which about 40 people were killed, with scores more injured. I learned of that yesterday morning over breakfast, and as selfish as it may sound, my first thought was, "It could have been Mum or me last year." Because you think about it: overall, how much REALLY changes in one year? Not very much, at least for a news junkie like me, and that first thought I got from yesterday morning's harrowing news proved very sobering and frightening indeed.
But nonetheless, for me it was just a thought, and I am grateful for that. Because tragically for many others, it was, or will for a long time be an ordeal. My heart goes out to every last one of them, and all their loved ones, although I firmly believe they and Turkey will march on.
Now, I'm not sure if it's quite time to politicise this tragedy and I so I realise I may lose a few of you here, but we cannot turn any such acts into excuses for stigmatising all Muslims as terrorists, or justifying Islamophobia. I do think more less-radical Muslims could step up and try to peacefully combat extremist Islam, and its sources and motivations, but ISIS and ISIL are not universally supported among their own religion, and by going after just one group, I think you're just cutting a branch off a tree rather than digging deep to get to the root.
I know what I consider the root of this whole saga, but I want this time to let you all draw your own conclusions. If you've followed my posts here and/or on Facebook, you might already know it anyway.
Peace still works. And as well as ever.
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