Beyond the rhetoric

Jesus taught his disciples to love their enemies and pray for those who persecuted them. While not always easy, this Christ-like love requires a commitment to patience and openness to listening.

Recently, mainstream culture has turned to de-humanizing those which we dislike -- specifically in the current war on terrorism. Dialogue has digressed to binary, good versus evil rhetoric, making it nearly impossible for most of us to begin to understand the "evil" which we are fighting, not to mention to love the "evildoers." Day after day we are told by most that what we are fighting is bad, subsequently making our intentions good.

Despite all the attention given to the war on terrorism over the past years, few attempts have been made to help us understand the human aspect of the "evildoers." Most Americans understand bin Laden as a hairy, fanatic Muslim; a "freedom hater." Osama is painted by our government in nearly Biblical language -- made out to be a beast that must be destroyed. Perhaps we are not hearing the entire story.

The following is an excerpt from a speech Osama bin Laden made on videotape last October, available at english.aljazeera.net. Here, bin Laden is explaining the root of his aggression towards America, a side which we are not accustomed to hearing, and one which many are uncomfortable accepting.

"The events that affected my soul in a direct way started in 1982 when America permitted the Israelis to invade Lebanon and the American Sixth Fleet helped them-I couldn't forget those moving scenes, blood and severed limbs, women and children sprawled everywhere. Houses destroyed along with their occupants and high rises demolished over their residents, rockets raining down on our home without mercy. The situation was like a crocodile meeting a helpless child, powerless except for his screams."

While uncertain if these events are actually true, it is possible to see the emotion driving bin Laden's agenda. It is obvious that deep wounds exist, both with bin Laden and in America. This realization allows us to begin to identify and humanize -- a necessity for loving one's enemies.

While this provides nothing near a conclusive understanding of the political situation that continues to evolve every day, it's a step in the right direction for the individual and for our campus. It allows us to step beyond the bounds of the prominent binary discourse and strive towards the unconditional love which Jesus demonstrated to his disciples -- a love which we attempt to emulate as followers of Jesus, even in the most difficult political situations.