Only kindness matters

This was not how I wanted my six weeks in the US to end.

Thirty hours in the air and away from social media, I missed the first news wave of what had happened over the weekend.

I was in transit at Narita Airport on my way back to Kuala Lumpur when I heard the news of what had happened in Bataclan.

I found out that less than 24 hours before that, another tragedy had struck Beirut. As I am writing this, Calais is on fire as people retaliate in anger and hatred against all that is happening.

Violence everywhere.

My first reaction was anger. I am so angry that so many people out there still do not appreciate life and all its offering. Collectively as human beings, we do not learn from our histories.

When has any war or act of violence solved a problem deeply embedded in our society?

If we look into every tragedy enough, we are able to see the core of each inhuman act as, ironically, human. Feelings of hatred and anger often manifest in a group of people from being marginalised, treated badly and without respect, being poor and having less from those who have more.

Ironic that every time a tragedy like 9/11 and now 11/13 happens, we retaliate with more marginalisation. We treat another group of people badly and without respect. We deny more human beings their right to be humans.

We choose to blame. We choose to compare our sufferings and create more hatred and chaos in the world.

Dumbledore once said, "Human do have a knack for choosing precisely those things that are worse for them." I could not agree enough.

What happened over the weekend was another act of us humans choosing precisely the wrong things. The grandstanding now happening on social media shows that we choose our egos over empathy.

There should not be arguments about Paris overshadowing Beirut. There should be no hesitation to respond with aid and helping hands. But we have instead wasted our time pointing the finger of blame.

What good would it do?

I spent the past six weeks among inspired and driven young leaders not only from Southeast Asia but from around the world, focused on finding a solution to problems affecting our community, brought together by a country that started the war on terror back in 2001.

There is no denying this, but for all intents and purposes, the current administration saw the need to bring together young leaders who are aspiring to heal the wounds inflicted upon the world.

There are over 10,000 of us now from the time the programme started. Each of us works with a US counterpart and is able to positively affect the communities from which we came.

I noticed that among the fellows, there were stories of having experienced poverty, discrimination, denial of human rights and even war.

Stories from fellows from Ukraine, Rwanda, Palestine, Myanmar and many more showed that within these countries facing ongoing conflicts, there were individuals able to see the bigger picture, that violence and hatred is not the answer to the world’s problems. 

More often than not, their stories began with having experienced the kindness of others. Strangers who paid for their education, or foundations that helped them navigate the bureaucratic world of putting human beings into citizens of countries.

Subsequently they paid it forward through assistance in elevating the standing of others, in education, economic power, or simply having water and electricity.

We also had fellows who were differently abled, further showing that nothing, absolutely nothing, will stop one’s passion and desire to be an empowered individual.

I was humbled and felt so small compared to all of them. I am a privileged Malaysian, there is no denying that.

While we discussed issues affecting the world today in our little own microcosm, we failed to discuss terrorism.

Perhaps it is not a topic relevant to the themes of our professional fellows programme, but somehow I connected the dots.

When faced with adversity, we can respond with either hatred or kindness. It is perhaps easier to retaliate with violence. When an injustice is done, it is easier to lash out in anger and to blame. It is way harder to respond with inclusiveness and kindness.

But in every tragedy, we see the helpers. We see people who choose not to be afraid, and to instead extend goodwill, to show that there is always another side to humanity.

After all, forgiveness is the first step towards justice.

There should not be another war on terror. There should instead be more funds pumped into education, healthcare and eradicating poverty.

We should not wait until we have the world we want. We should instead act as though we had that world right now. – November 18, 2015.

* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.