Our hearts are all breaking after the tragic events that took place in London on Thursday. Where I live I can feel the tension... the hurt... the fear that has captured so many. It has caused us to question our neighbors, to fear passersby who wear scarves, and to isolate our friends. New York. Paris. Belgium. Germany. London. The whole world is briefly silenced each time an attack happens. We unite, we cry, and we vow to never let another atrocity like this happen in our backyard.
But the aftermath looks much different than we think. Instead of uniting together and pointing the finger at the big problem, we turn to our innocent neighbors who have fled from these horrors.
Today, my heart aches for my friend who cried to me. She cried over bloodshed and poverty from war in her country, and over family members who were lost to hate crimes and terror. But instead of being able to mourn openly and be supported by her community she is ostracized. She is glared at for looking Asian. She is left with an empty seat next to her on the bus because she wears a scarf.
Today, my heart aches for my friend who doesn’t feel comfortable going into “white” areas. She is called cruel names and told to go back to Asia. The lady who once smiled at her every morning for her usual coffee break now looks away and ignores her.
I don’t say this to make you feel guilty or hopeless. And I don’t say this to undermine or downplay the tragedy that happened last week. But I do say this to make you aware, and to stop fearing people who are afraid themselves. The people we fear probably aren’t our neighbors, they aren’t the person in front of you at the grocery store and they don’t go to school with your children.
They do exist and they are a huge threat to our Nation and our sense of peace. But we have got to stop letting fear paralyze us from loving people who are lost and confused and hurting. As believers we have to extend a hand where others are cowering. Please, do not let the media manipulate you into looking over your shoulder every time you pass an Asian man with a beard or a lady wearing a headscarf. Instead, let our love cast out fear and let our light break through the darkness.