لا ضرر و لا ضرار
Neither harm others, nor allow yourself to be harmed.
[Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)]

Even our Schools are not Safe
Our educational institutions are meant to be havens of safety, centers of learning, centers of development, centers of empowerment, centers of  enlightenment, centers of civilization. Unfortunately, this week, we once again witnessed tragedy at our educational institutions...

Tuesday, Feb 12 :  Lawrence King, 15, was shot at a junior high school Tuesday by a 14 yr old classmate (now facing murder charges). Victim has just been declared brain dead this morning

Feb 14: A 27-year-old former student Stephen Kazmierczak, at Northern Illinois University, went on a suicidal rampage, opened fire  in a crowded lecture  room, killing six people and injuring over twenty.

- Columbine High School massacre April 20, 1999 Two teenage students, carried out a shooting rampage, killing 12 students and a teacher, as well as wounding 24 others, before committing suicide.

- Red Lake High School massacre - Red Lake, Minnesota, United States; March 21, 2005 a student killed seven people including a teacher and a security guard. He had previously killed his grandfather (a police officer) and his grandfather's girlfriend/partner at home before going to school to commit the massacre. Seven others were wounded.

- Amish school shooting - Nickel Mines, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, United States; October 2, 2006, when a gunman took hostages and eventually killed five girls (aged 7-13) and then killed himself at West Nickel Mines School.

- Virginia Tech massacre; on April 16, 2007, on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States where a resident student killed 32 people and wounded many more before committing suicide, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

When tragedy strikes, it is for the rest of us to make sure that life goes on so that those suffering can grieve. In the end, the only thing positive that can ever come out of tragedy is the lessons we learn from it.

Our Uncultured of Violence
In a culture that has become accustomed to glorifying wars and violence in the name of peace; one that has a passion for owning guns (in fact, a major issue of the ruling party) and also the highest homicide rate of all western nations; where violent films, violent games and violent music is the norm; where alcohol and other legal and illegal drugs are easily available...there are consequences.

Violence as Policy
Throughout our history, it's been our way, and since 1990, three US Presidents waged genocidal war in Iraq to erase the "cradle of civilization" and remake it in our own image. Over a million are dead and counting from it; that country is now plagued by out-of-control violence, one-third of its people need emergency aid, millions go hungry, and a once prosperous nation 9under a brutal dictator) is now a surreal lawless occupied wasteland with few or no essential services like electricity, clean water, medical care, fuel and most everything else needed for sustenance and survival.

Our Pentagon budget is now $648.8 billion plus an additional $147.5 billion war supplemental and around $50 billion or more now requested. We are in financial crises at the moment here because we are bankrupt fighting an unnecessary war, against a people who did us no harm. If such war, such news pre-occupies us; the the culture that becomes the norm is not one of peace.

Global Peace Index's (GPI) ranking of 121 nations, prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit, an international panel of peace experts from peace institutes and think tanks, and the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney, Australia, which aims to highlight the relationship between Global Peace and Sustainability (stressing) unless we can achieve a peaceful world, humanity's major challenges won't be solved.
The US was a shocking 96th in the overall rankings - to the naive and innocent, that is. Norway, New Zealand and Denmark scored best in that order while Iraq ranked lowest followed by Sudan and Israel.

Lessons we need to Learn and Teach our Children
Tragedy leaves one without proper words. Perhaps the most we can hope to bring out of such incidents is the perspective it gives to understand other areas of life. When we note that these tragedies have occurred in schools, our kids are aware of it and it is our duty to realize the need for them to be informed age-appropriately about the facts and the reality.
Shock, grief, horror, sorrow, fear and sympathy are the appropriate first responses after tragedies like these; but we also we need to realize that there is a problem and we should try to identify it; grapple with it and ensure that we find ways to avoid similar disasters.
All of us need to have the moral strength and the ethical depth to ensure that we make a positive impact to redress this challenge; and home is where it begins.
Our children need to be reassured and made to feel secure. At a domestic and ethical, we need to ...

- Keep peace and respect at home
- Manifest a loving relationship among dear ones
- Realize that force and violence among dear ones is a means, never a remedy.
- To imbibe the Prophetic advice ...

ان الله رفيق يحب الرفق فى الأمر كله
ويعطي على الرفق ما لا يعطي على العنف
Allah is kind and loves kindness in every matter, and kindness has been granted capacity which violence could never attain.

_______________________

By: Br. Sadullah Khan

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