Why Paris Matters
I'm struggling a lot with Paris. I'm wrestling so many emotions that I have gone numb. I have so many conflicting opinions; I think at this point I agree and disagree with every thought put forth. I am so overwhelmed that I have gone cold.One question I have been mulling over is "Why do we care so much about Paris?" In a world where 56 million people die every day, where there are natural disasters, armed conflicts and all kinds of disease, what makes terrorist attacks on Paris significant?As I looked around at all the "Pray for Paris" posts over the weekend, I grumbled to myself, not for the first time, "Why pray for Paris? Why not Kabul? Or Beirut? Or any of the other cities? What makes these people so much more valuable?!" The racism of the media is palpable at times like these. There are so many tragedies that have barely garnered any attention. I acknowledge and am infuriated by the blatant media favoritism in reporting, but I want to step outside that paradigm for a moment.I want to say that Paris IS significant, and it DOES matter.Paris is a city we all recognize. I'm certain many common people without ties to the Middle East can't tell you what country Beirut is in or name even one monument there. Yet, we all know Paris. When I discovered that my phone's map app has 3D flyover tours of famous cities, the first place I virtually took my daughter to was Paris. It's a city that touches us all in different ways and at different stages of our lives.It's a city many of us have been to--in reality, through novels, through television and film, or through photographs. We know that it's in France. We know it has the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre. At a very fundamental level, we know Paris in a way we do not know other places where tragedies are occurring.Americans feel a special kinship with Paris. An affection for France is woven very directly into the fabric of America. It was France who was our first major ally--who helped us fight off Britain in the Revolutionary War. France helped make America possible--through military support, through a sharing of democratic ideals and ideas, through cultural exchange.It was France that sold us 15 states (or parts of states) in the Louisiana Purchase. If it wasn't for France, there'd be no New Orleans. There'd be no Oklahoma to sing about or Kansas for Dorothy to wonder about. Not to mention all the other direct and indirect contributions to our culture (Statue of Liberty; Cinderella=Rags to Riches=American Dream).For as long as I live, I will never forget that when those planes crashed into the Twin Towers on 9/11, it was Paris that told the world "Nous sommes tous Américains."And Paris is the city of our most secretly guarded dreams. Dreams of romance, dreams of escape, dreams of adventure, dreams of creativity and flights of fancy, dreams of mystery. Paris is the City of Lights, the City of Love--a symbol of the hope within us that cannot die.It's a little like Narnia. While the lives lost in Paris are not more valuable than lives lost in other places, Paris itself means something more. It's like how murders happen every day but a brutal murder that happens within the sanctuary of a church is a defiling of the sacred. It's the touching of something off limits.Of course, that is our mistake: to believe that we are untouchable, to believe that anything can be off limits to angry hateful people whose moral code has been shut off.Paris belongs to all of us. We've carried it in our hearts, knowingly or unknowingly, for most of our lives. Paris matters.Let there be peace across the planet. Let it begin with me. As a Christian, I recognize our special responsibility for our brothers and sisters--both victims and perpetrators of these heinous acts. Yes--our personal sin fuels sins around the world. We are all responsible for each other. The world is a little worse off because I pray less and fall more, because I persist in my sin.Let us pray. Pray for Paris. Pray for the world. Let us fall to our knees and ask the only One who knows what to do and how to do it to guide us, to teach us, to use tragedies like this to work in our hearts so we might serve those who need Him. Let us be lanterns of God's love in the world. Let His light burn clean the forests of sin and hate we have nurtured in our selfishness.That is the only way I can process everything the world is enduring.
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My friend Tasoni Dalia wrote a guest post over at franthony.com called "Did We Lose Our Way?" that is worth a careful read. It's one of those things we have to be constantly vigilante about, and it's fundamental to our relationship with God and each other.