JE SUIS CHARLIE
MAIS OUT ET JE SUIS VOUS ET VOUS ETES MOI.
( please excuse any typos in my French)
This is true and this sentiment has been expressed all over the world.
It warmed my heart that the world responded to the senseless killing of these 12 precious souls in Paris by exclaiming that they were also Charlie.
What does this truly mean? I believe it expresses the truth that we are all one even when we don’t act like it most of the time. I think it expresses the fact that the loss of even one precious soul affects each and every one of us at the core.
There was a beautiful expression like this on 9/11/01. The world mourned with the United States as we mourned the loss of our innocents. Yet, the sentiment of our oneness was quickly forgotten.
Mark Nepo from his book, THE BOOK OF AWAKENING, and from the reading on 12/31 tells us this:
“…………..much of our modern therapeutic journey is……….to have who we are and where we’ve been be seen. For with this simple and direct affirmation, it is possible to claim our own presence, to say, “I Am Here.”. Those people in our lives who have validated our personhood by seeing us and exclaiming so are the foundations of our self-worth. “
So perhaps, during tragic times like the one in Paris, we are truly seeing. We are seeing what happened yet we are truly seeing and feeling the Truth: we have lost part of ourselves. From this understanding we can then say from our hearts: Je suis Charlie.
My hope from this tragedy is that we can little by little, begin to understand what Jesus meant when he said: “in as much as you have done this to the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me.”
This senseless act is our loss and so what are we going to do about it?
I know that I hope I will see and understand that how I treat others is simply a way that I am treating myself. So, if I am rude to others, I am being rude to myself and if I am loving to others, I am being loving to myself.
I invite all of us to consider this Truth: Je suis Le Monde!
And then let us act like it.