Imbecility of terrorism

All evil is caused by either one or a combination of these three: lust, greed and anger. The Abu Sayyaf are terrorists. They are kidnapping people for ransom. That is plain greed. Sometimes they also rape their victims. That is lust. In the case of the people who plant explosives to kill totally innocent people, obviously they are motivated by great anger. A past bitter experience has obviously perverted their minds and obliterated their conscience. Those who bomb buses also are money-motivated. Justifying their murdering innocent passengers by saying that the bus owners refused to pay "revolutionary taxes" proves that greed and not the public good is their prime motivation. They cannot build. They can only kill and destroy. In the end they will succeed only in destroying themselves.

The words terrorism and terrorist were first used during the French Revolution. In 1798, a French dictionary defined terrorism as a system or a regime of terror. But, it was used in a positive way because the terror referred to was the war against the enemy. Now, it means a totally different thing. So the terrorist acts that we know today cannot be traced back to the French Revolution. It actually goes back farther in time, all the way back to the 11th century when Hassan ben Sabbah had his stronghold in the mountains of Lebanon. Known as The Old Man of the Mountains, Hassan founded a Muslim sect who killed by treachery and violence. They were known as hashishin because they dosed themselves with hashis before launching their assaults and that is where the word assassin was derived from. Today we seem to have gone back to those times because the group responsible for the Sept. 11 attack in New York and the kidnappings for ransom in Sulu are all misguided Muslims. Their acts are a violation of the teachings of The Koran.

There is no reason in the world why Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus cannot live in peace. All religions teach one’s love for one’s fellowmen. No religion says that we should kill people who do not share our faith. The sad part about the Zamboanga bombing last Sunday is that it took place in Fort Pilar Shrine, a place where for centuries Christians and Muslims prayed together. Fort Pilar was dedicated to the Virgin of the Pillar and is the only fort in the world that is a religious shrine. It must be preserved as a shrine and it must be a Christian and Muslim shrine. The bombing last Sunday was the third in Zamboanga. We pray and hope it will be the last. Zamboanga has no problems that bombs can solve.

There is no doubt that we have local terrorist groups. The probability is that they have been instigated by international terrorists. We will have to cope with this problem for sometime. The most important thing is to remain calm. We must not let terrorists interfere with our daily work routine. The Philippine National Police has published guidelines for ordinary citizens to follow on how to spot a bomb and the Do’s and Don’ts that they should follow in the event that a bomb is spotted. Individually, we must all be vigilant during these times. The suggestion that vigilante groups be formed in the barangays, neighborhood, church associations and business office buildings is a positive step in the right direction. Life must continue as normally as possible. That is the best attitude to have concerning this problem.