For the third time this month I’m breaking my vow of silence or rather, my vow for a well deserved break from writing.  How could I remain silent with all that’s happening around the world especially in Iraq?

How could I not write a single word about the atrocities that is seeing history repeat itself right in front of our eyes? How could I stay mum in view of the racist bigotry, the hate, and the anti-Semitism that’s clearly raising its head on social and even traditional media?

I can understand how a country like ours would officially take a neutral position, not because I believe it would do us any good should push come to shove, but with the responsibility of a whole nation on my shoulders, I too might be tempted to ‘stay neutral.’  But thankfully, I’m not a politician nor am I a representative of anything or anyone but myself, so I just have to ask loud and clear:

Why are we not doing anything to help those running for their lives in Iraq and Syria?

Why have we not lifted a finger to get children and innocent civilians out of harm’s way?

And why are we still talking of Arabs and Muslims, as though they are one single group with one fixed and homogenous set of (bad) characteristics?

Everywhere around the world, in every ethnic group, in every racial group, in every schoolyard, in every work place, there will be a minority of people who are bad.

As small a percentage as this group of people may be however, without intervention, they tend make the good people, the peaceful people, totally irrelevant.  Worst of all, they make the good people in their own group invisible to the rest of the world.  

And this is exactly what we must resist.

We might not be in a position to fight the bad apples with guns and weapons and sheer force, but we all have the means to fight them inside our heads. We must not allow the bad apples to manipulate us into thinking that their whole race, religious followers or their whole nation is like them, because they are not.

I’m white and European. I’m not religious and I’m from a country very few will ever bother with, so my fight against racism, anti-Semitism, and religious discrimination does not stem from fear of personal persecution but from the fear of having my mind and emotions controlled by this small percentage of people whose sole aim in life is power.

Like Malta, I might not be in a position to resist their bloody and gruesome attacks, but I am certainly in a position to resist and oppose their psychological attempts to make the peaceful majority invisible.

I’m in no way suggesting that we should brush aside the increased terrorism threat, loss of liberties and atrocities, but whatever we do, we need to keep in mind that most people, whether Muslims, Jews, Arabs, Russians and what not, are law-abiding citizens who will never become extremists and embrace violence.   

Of course, when we see violent extremists killing in the name of Islam it is very difficult to deny the link to that religion, but deny we must.

When we take a look at historical events, genocides and the worst type of terrorism we find that the common denominator is not Islam, it’s extremists with a missing screw. It is these people that we must fight with whatever we’ve got.

Some countries have guns, weapons, sanctions, a huge army and diplomatic methods to fight with.  What I’ve got is the positive thoughts and feelings about the majority of the people who inhabit the world. No terrorist will ever change that.

If you have a brain and a heart, you too can fight terrorism.

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