I logged onto Facebook Saturday morning and the top story was that a friend had been marked safe during the Paris terror attacks. Immediately I googled what the hell was going on and what I saw devastated me. I read reports upon reports to try to make sense of it, but the the fact is, it doesn’t make sense. It’s senseless and horrible and heartless. I went back to my feed and saw people expressing the same outrage and sentiments together with the now-trending hashtag #prayforparis. I scrolled and found arguments about how this is a case of selective grieving and how deeply unfair this was, and further below, a post that pointed out how rude it was to bitch at people for mourning one thing and not the other, that it’s like complaining at your uncle’s wake about how there are more people here than your father’s funeral. Interesting posts that I should’ve bookmarked for reference coz now I can’t find them. You see, I scrolled through quite a lot this weekend but I didn’t join in on the discussion – until now – not because I don’t care.
The truth is, it freaks me out. And in some way, I feel that parading it on social media cheapens its impact. I’m not saying that everyone who posted it didn’t feel anything for the situation, but being the closet cynic that I am, I wonder how many have actually said a prayer with the hashtag #prayerforparis? Was it 5 seconds of mourning and 5 minutes of trying to find the perfect photo from your Paris vacation? I don’t mean to rub anyone the wrong way because it IS good that we’re aware of what’s going on. Please, let’s talk about it some more. But more importantly, let’s talk about what we’re going to do about it. The world is a messed up place, France, Syria, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq, the terror and inhumanity is not limited to these. It’s happening everywhere, on different scales and varied coverage. Are we doing anything substantial to make this world better? Or are we part of the problem?
I feel that instead of empathy and morale, social media actually promotes apathy more by giving a false sense of camaraderie. Yes, there is a chance you’re raising awareness and expanding the conversation, but why stop there? I did my part, I shared/liked/whatever, there’s nothing else left for me to do. But there are! There’s always something more. We need a follow through for our posts. Whether it’s by actually saying a prayer, donating to NGOs, or just assessing our lives and making a conscious choice to live authentically in love and light, we need to do something. Social media and our generation’s connectedness should enable us to act, not overwhelm us and give us a sense of helplessness towards the atrocities our world faces under men whose evils are masked under the corrupted context of religion. After all, actions speak louder than 160 character tweets and digital hearts.
While it’s true that fighting this terror with love is important (hola, Martin Luther King Jr!), we need to clear through the noise of empty shares and status updates and make sure our social profiles reflect our actual lives – even for just this once. This isn’t an #iwokeuplikethis selfie that was actually number 96 in a series of 114. We’re talking about the state of the world, and it deserves more than our likes and retweets. Our support for humanity shouldn’t just be merely a trend. It has to become truly viral; and that involves our thoughts, decisions, and actions.
Je suis Paris mais je ne suis pas juste Paris. Je suis humaine.
I am Paris but I am not just Paris. I am human.
Priez pour le monde. Priez pour nous.
Pray for the world. Pray for humanity.
