Friday, 1 April 2016

Terrorist activities and sadistic killings: The tip of the iceberg


There is a massive increase in terrorist activities and sadistic killings lately:
In March, there were mass suicide bombing in many places including Brussels, Turkey, and Pakistan.
ISIS brutally crucified a Catholic priest on Good Friday.
http://www.catholic.org/news/international/middle_east/story.php?id=68121
Multiple shootings and stabbings everywhere, including the horrific decapitation of a four year old toddler, nicked named “Little Light Bulb”, in Taiwan in broad day light in a random attack on Monday, 28 March.
And a very bizarre incident of a man hijacking a plane with a fake suicide vest because he wanted his ex-wife to speak to him!
It seems like people are getting crazy everywhere.

Some questions come to mind:
Why are all these things happening? Terrorism, sadistic killings, etc.
Some people blame it’s the teachings of the Islamic religion. However, let’s say if Islam doesn't exist today, does that mean terrorism and sadistic killings will not occur? Or will it still exist, in some other form, under some other organisation or religion?

We see a lot of anger and debating on the internet about the current or historical world events, with people blaming one thing or another. However, a lot of these comments only remain at a very superficial level, mostly condemning the horrific act itself and making abuse remarks/personal attacks on the perpetrator.

I wonder how many people look deeper. The outward action/expression/behaviour is just the tip of the iceberg… The captain of the Titanic, for instance, only saw the tip of the iceberg but couldn't see how big the ice was under the water....

An outward action/expression/behaviour is actually just a response/symptom... It is the inner feelings (of pain, anger, sadness, bitterness, etc) that lead to the expression.

And what drives feelings? The underlying beliefs and values of an individual is what leads to a person feeling x way or y way when something arises.

What happened to Little Light Bulb is a mother’s worst nightmare. Yet, on the day of the incident, Claire Wang, the toddler’s mother, amazed the Taiwanese community with her insightful statement:
“I believe the suspects in these kinds of random killings lose their minds at that moment,” Wang told TV reporters at the police station Monday. “This is not a problem that can be solved by passing a law”, she said. “I hope we can address the problem from its root, from the perspective of family and education, so that there will no longer be people like him (the perpetrator) in our society.”

“After the incident, many friends advised me to close my blog and Facebook page, but I really hope that her death can leave something behind, stir up some discussion, remind people of the importance of love, and call attention to the many issues in society,” Wang said the next day.

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:5)
All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle. (Saint Francis of Assisi)
May God bring comfort to the family of Little Light Bulb.
May God give wisdom to those in positions of power so that they see the fundamental root causes of the social issues.


I have personally found the book, “Changes that Heal”, by Dr. Henry Cloud, very useful for my own self-reflection. I made notes on the book, but it’s in Chinese as I read the Chinese translation of that book.

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