Ellis James addressed the members of Northeastern University’s community as they joined together in Sacred Space in response to the attack on Pittsburg’s Tree of Life Synagogue. The Synagogue Shooting was a mass shooting that occurred at the Tree of Life in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on October 27, 2018, while Shabbat morning services were being held. Eleven people were killed and seven were injured. It was the deadliest attack on the Jewish community of the United States.
We can’t deny the fact that today’s world has become really selfish. The main aim of everybody is to fulfill their own desires. We can see hatred everywhere; people don’t spare sports as well. It can be seen that cricket has become such a craze leading to neighboring countries showing hatred towards each other. We have to realise where the world is heading. If countries start showing love towards each other then there will be peace, development and economic stability among the countries.
A coin has two faces; if hate has spread vigorously around us, there are still a few souls who want to maintain the balance between love and hate. Pittsburgh Islamic groups have raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to support the Tree of Life. People have donated blood and left flowers. There have been vigils everywhere, from Australia to Arizona, showing support. Together we can fight hate. A child doesn’t know how to discriminate among the people on the basis of their origin, colour and other aspects; he will just have the same feeling for a poor and a rich man. We should start seeing the world differently as well. Then only such mass destruction can be prevented.
As Martin Luther King Jr. said,
“Darkness can’t drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate can’t drive out hate, only love can do that.”
Sarthak Sinha