What is Terrorism?

There once was a man who grew up homeless and destitute.  He had no opportunity for education, no property, no job, and no hope. His whole life he had to fight to survive--he had to fight ravenous beasts, he had to fight for food, he had to fight thieves, and he had to fight the desire to simply lay down and die. He had nothing, would be nothing, and had nothing to lose.

He cried out to God, "Have mercy on me. Give me a reason to live, and hope to go on!" One day he met a woman.  She was the most beautiful woman he had ever met. It was love at first sight. Although he had nothing to offer, she loved him just the same, and finally he had a reason to live—which made all the fighting worth living for.

Eventually, they had children—the joy of his life.  Their love made him only work all the harder to attempt to provide shelter and food, but life was hard, and sometimes seemed hopeless. Nevertheless, the man remembered that God had given him reason to live, and he was thankful.

Then, tragedy struck.  His wife and children contracted a terrible disease.  Yet he found hope in hearing of a people in a far off land who were wealthy and educated and knew of magic that could save his wife and children. So he set off to find these people.

When he found them, he knew he was in the right place because he saw that they truly lived like kings! They had treasures beyond compare and magic that seemed impossible. They didn't have to fight for food—their magic made 100 times more than they could eat. They didn't have ravenous beasts to fight—instead they fenced them in and locked them in cages and paid to gawk at them.  They didn't have to fight thieves—they had servants with shiny badges who chased them down and made them pay for their crimes.  Most importantly, they had magic that could save his family.

So, he went to one magnificent building with lots of cheering and light and thousands of people—he figured this must be where they conjured the magic.  He went in and saw that the ceiling of the building opened up to the sky, and there was a great green field below with armored warriors battling it out.  Considering the great noise of the crowd, the lights, and the spectacle, he assumed this was some form of worship or a celebration honoring their god who granted them their magic.  He asked some in the crowd for help, but they laughed at him for the way he dressed and talked and had him removed by the servants for bugging them.

Then he saw another large building—on its roof landed a giant white locust that made a tremendous noise and looked big enough to eat ten men.  He also saw moving white houses with blazing red lights move up to its gates in a fury.  He saw a man pull out another man lying on a bed, and he thought, "I'm in luck, this is where they use their magic on one another.  Here is where I will find help!" He went in and told them of his troubles.  They seemed caring, but then asked him for proof of treasures—they wanted to know that he would pay them for their troubles.  But sadly he had nothing and could not, and they turned him away.  Broken, he left.

As he was walking, about to give up, he heard an angelic noise coming from a beautiful building with a white, pointed top lit up with bright lights that you could see for miles.   It had a strange symbol on the top, like the passing of two roads—one through another.  He thought that these glorious sounds must be of magic and worship, so he ran and went inside.  The people inside were at first alarmed and frightened at the sight of such a dirty man and such disheveled clothes.  Most pretended to ignore him while mumbling in what seemed to be a negative tone. One of the men, dressed in a fancy dark suit and tie, met the man before he could enter the great room where the music came from and took him aside. The man who greeted him asked what he could do for him, so he told of his trials.  The man said he wished they could help, but they just re-carpeted the sanctuary and bought new magic windows for the classrooms. The man told him he would pray to his god for him and told him to go back to the building the locust had landed on.

He left there, and as he did so he noticed how many people were walking down the street.  He begged them for help, but one would not put down his book, and another wouldn't take plugs attached to a string running to a little magic box with the symbol of an apple on it out of her ears.  

Each person he passed shrugged him off or ignored him.  Couldn't they see his plight? Didn't they know this was a life and death situation?  Didn't they care?  At least at home his own people would bring him food or pray with him. They might not have had the magic to help, but they could help through presence.

He looked upon these people and could see through them that their god was not good.  It was obvious since he had not taught them mercy—here they had the world at their fingertips, and they could not lift a finger to help a dying family.

So he cursed that place and went home. He arrived just in time to watch his wife take her last breath—his son and daughter had already died while he was on his journey.  He now was left with less than what he had when he cried to God for mercy—now, he had nothing but a broken heart.

He thought on what had happened.  He saw the power of that foreign lands god and saw that it was obviously more powerful than his own since it kept his god from saving his family.  So, he vowed to fight for his god so that maybe one day a good and loving god might be the most powerful and be able to use that power for good in the world.  The only way he knew how to fight against another god was to fight that god's people.  And so he did.

Explanation:
You want to see a real terrorist, look in the mirror (or at me).  We kill millions every year simply by NOT lifting a finger.  There was an old quote, I forget who said it, but it said something like: "He who sees wrongdoing, yet does nothing to stop it, is no better than the wrongdoer himself."  In our case, we are both.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying terrorism, like that of the Islamic Jihad, is ok, and by no means is it justifiable.  However, in the scheme of things, its effects are less than our own (the terrorism that is "selfishness").  Especially since our form of terrorism possibly causes their form of terrorism.  No form is good, and none have good cause—all are wrong.  But we always have to stop and ask why?  Why are they doing this?  Why do we do what we do?  The key is that behavior is responsive—humans often act in response to what we experience.

It's easy for us to pass judgment on a people we don't know—especially if we don't know what they have gone through.  We don't realize how damaging impressions of us are—whether they are true or not.  Granted, some of us do more than simply pray, but many of us don't realize that God most often answers prayer through His people.  We are called to be the miracles, but since we don't allow ourselves to be used that way, we see none and begin to doubt that God even exists.

Put yourself in their shoes.  How would you feel if you watched millions of people die of starvation or curable illnesses every year, knowing that there is a people on this planet capable of feeding the entire world and capable of curing many people's illnesses, and yet they just sit there more concerned with comfort, fashion, entertainment, popularity, and consumption? We live in a consumer culture—what is really being consumed?  Is it products and materials, or us...or maybe them?

We don't have peace in this world because of this very injustice—I'm just as guilty of it as the next guy. I find it quite ironic that we all tend to complain that in this country the rich keep getting richer and the poor keep getting poorer.  In the scheme of the world economy, our poor are the rich, and our rich are filthy rich.

Peace is a thing of beauty, and beauty, according to Maslow's Hierarchy of needs is way down the list.  When the world has plenty of food, medicine, and has met the basic needs of everyone; then, and only then, will we have given peace a chance.

The war on terrorism has little to do with politics or politicians or political parties, and everything to do with all of mankind’s unwillingness to follow the Great Commandment—“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all our soul, and LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF (Matthew 22:37-39). 

It’s hard to hate people when you have good reason to love them.  There will always be inciters of violence, but when the evidence of reality is obviously inconsistent with their claims (that we are an evil people that needs to be stricken from the planet), they will find themselves without willing participants.  Without the ability to radicalize those who would otherwise recognize the foolishness of their psychosis, mounting any real attack on civilized society would be seriously compromised.  With such limited numbers, they would be forced to blow themselves up as martyrs or live their lives in obscurity.  

We can point all the fingers we want at politicians and blame-blame-blame, but the reality is, this is everyone's fault and everyone’s problem.  We've got one planet, one race (the human race), and one chance to get it right.  Until we start working as a united team, there will always be war. Peace starts with me, with you, and with the person sitting next to you—not with government!  It's their duty to fight wars when necessary—IT'S OUR DUTY TO PREVENT THEM!

Don't feel attacked or guilted--just feel challenged!!! There is power in knowing that you can change the world simply by changing your attitude and responding to what you now understand in your behavior.  BE A MIRACLE to someone and they will see God and know that He is love!