We
all have our hatreds and demonsthey are perhaps not as severebut
we have them. And we all must rid ourselves of them, regardless of where
we are. Healing begins not with governments, but with ourselves as individuals.
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Let the healing begin
Jack Yan, Publisher
TODAY we suspend our New York activities in light of the attacks on the
United States. And we know many of you are turning to us for our thoughts.
I have my thoughts on what this all means.
First, we send our deepest, most heartfelt sympathies
to all those affected by today's desperate, incomprehensible actions.
There is no easy cure. None of us can say we have been
through anything like this.
It is a time to look within and allow ourselves to be
healed.
The reason for our being exposed to such a horrid, abominable
act is often to remind us that we, as a human race, have not advanced
as far as we had thought. This crime is not one that can be pointed at
any one race or creed. It is one that has affected us all, and one that
we have to do our own soul-searching about. We all must bear some responsibility
as a collective race of people on this planet.
Why? Because we all have our hatreds and demonsthey
are perhaps not as severebut we have them. And we all must rid ourselves
of them, regardless of where we are. Healing begins not with governments,
but with ourselves as individuals.
This event has shown us that many of us are still too
quick to treat groups with different religions, races or beliefs as different
from ourselves. I do not address this statement to any one nation. Whether
we are Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Muslim, Taoist or any of other faith,
or whether we have a different comprehension of what faith is, we, as
a human race, still see separations between us.
These separations cause divisions between us as a people.
Those responsible for today's terrorism have to realize
that they have not harmed Americans, but fellow human beings.
And those responsible are our fellow human beings, too.
I stand by calls that the responsible parties have to
be punished. We have liberty and justice to defend. But we must also now
heal as a world, not just a nation.
I have my faith, and I do pray. I hope many of you who
have a belief in a Supreme Being or Energy join me in offering a prayer
to all of us affected. All of us, as people. And those of you who do not
share a belief in such a being, please be there in whatever way you can.
Let good come from the horror in the form of a deeper
understanding of the human condition; an understanding that we all have
similar demons that could drive us to commit acts that harm others. Perhaps
they are not of this magnitude, but we are capable of hurting whether
it's through being merely cold-hearted or through violence. Teach us to
rid ourselves of our evil, because healing begins with us and our example
to others in this world.
Let us try to find ways to prevent such an event from
recurring, not just through immediate things such as tougher securitybut
teaching our children and others that the root of this evil has been misguided
hatred. Through teaching, let us turn that hatred in our world into energy
that can, instead benefit all people.
For we are not of different races on this planet, but
of one race: the human race. Let us pray, and let us heal. Amen.
Jack Yan
Jack Yan is publisher of Lucire.
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