Thursday, December 3, 2015

The Baby

The shooters handed their six-month old baby to her grandmother before beginning their massacre.

That fact stops me in my tracks.

Hearing about her on the news this morning, I keep returning to that moment all day today.

On the one hand, they did not shoot their baby as part of their preparations, but they might as well have.

She will grow up to learn what her parents did.

Did they love her but loved their mission more?

Did they withhold love from her, using her as cover for their deadly plans?

Apparently the young man witnessed violence and abuse by his father in his home.  He had to protect his mother.  He was quiet and withdrawn in high school.

Who knows what violence the young woman witnessed in Pakistan or in her home?

He shopped for a wife who would be a suicide bomber.  He found one.  Perhaps she did the same.

After reading how the ISIS fighters in Syria are allowed to marry but not to have children, I fear that this couple allowed the pregnancy only as a way to look normal and cover their plans.

How do you turn off feelings for a baby?

When in the evolution of primates did they begin to kill each other?  Was it food and territory that they fought over?

Is this couple fighting for territory in some sense?  Give space to Islam.  Respect Islam--or fear Islam.

Every mass killer has a message:  I exist.  Notice me.  Listen to me.

These two killers left a mixed message: death to many, life to our child.

But what a life.







No comments: