Compassionate Societies

Compassion Does not Condone Killing Bin Laden

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• Category: Other integrity articles
• Published on Tuesday, 03 May 2011 02:00
• Written by Clarissa Eads
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I have great compassion for the families of those that died on 9/11 and I wonder if they feel any resolution at the recent news of Osama Bin Laden’s death. My heart truly goes out to them: I feel their loss.

As I scroll through Bin Laden focused news reels and headlines shouting victory I also feel compassion for those who lost loved ones in the military action that has taken place in Afghanistan for many years. And so too do I mourn the jubilance expressed by many in our society over the brutal death of another being as I mourn the the political system that takes lives out of supposed necessity.

Martin Luther King expresses these thoughts perfectly in the following quotes taken from two speeches:

 “Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction. […] The chain reaction of evil — hate begetting hate, wars producing more wars — must be broken, or we shall be plunged into the dark abyss of annihilation.”

Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength To Love, 1963

On August 16, 1967, Dr. King gave his “Where Do We Go from Here?” speech in Atlanta. In the transcript of the speech there appears this passage:

“I’m concerned about a better world. I’m concerned about justice; I’m concerned about brotherhood; I’m concerned about truth. And when one is concerned about that, he can never advocate violence. For through violence you may murder a murderer, but you can’t murder murder. Through violence you may murder a liar, but you can’t establish truth. Through violence you may murder a hater, but you can’t murder hate through violence. Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that.”

Martin Luther King's powerful words remind us that compassion is crucial for all of us, both at an individual level and at a collective level. True compassion knows no bounds: if we are to evolve as a society, as a race, as a species then compassion must be at the core of justice. 

Darkness cannot put out darkness; only light can do that and limitless compassion shines as the beckoning light of a whole and healed world.