'I choose peace'

Pakse, Laos. 

Sean posted this article several months ago on Dharma Monkey. It is an account by April Witt of the Washington Post of the November 2008 terrorist attacks in Mumbai, as experienced by a group of religious pilgrims from Northern Virginia who happened to be staying at the Oberoi Hotel. Naomi Scherr, 13, and her father Alan were among those killed in the siege.

I read this article and was haunted first by the attacks themselves - the senseless violence, the nightmarish quality of those hours, the pain of a woman whose family was taken from her in an instant. (And as always, I was blown away by the sparse power of Witt's writing.) It hurts to read. But then near the end, the leader of the spiritual group attacked at the Oberoi explained how he reconciled his faith with the evil he experienced. His choice lifted my heart. 

"So," the guru continued, "the terrorists' experience is appropriate for them. It's their choice. I can't comprehend why they create that experience. But it can place me at a choice. Do I choose the same hatred? Do I choose the same violence? Do I choose the same conflict in my life? Or do I say, 'No, I don't choose that. Rather, I choose the opposite. I choose love; I choose compassion; I choose kindness. I choose peace.' "

Posted on Monday, Mar 15, 2010