I write weighed down with emotions, captivated by the attack on the journalists of the French magazine Charlie Hebdo in France. A tragedy that is unfolding as I scribble some thoughts.
It is always tremendously sore remembering people in the media who have been killed as they are getting on with their job. It is poignant coming from a person who has been engaged with the business for some time now and knowing that people have passed away as they plied their trade. It makes the feeling even more horrendous.
Not only have people died, been massacred, but when there is an attempt for the freedom of speech and thought and argument and reason to be silenced - our communities need to declare themselves at risk of heartbreak.
Seeing all of this tragedy in Paris unfold is wretched.
Like many others I try to ask myself how come there are people who are able to give meaning to justify such conduct.
Cartoonists through their caricatures give a graphic distortion of recognizable traits which admittedly at times might be hard to swallow. Fair enough because it is all thrown at you in one thump - but this does not give even the slightest explanation of what has just happened.
The Charlie Hebdo cartoonists that have been killed in cold blood are martyrs for OUR own 'freedom of speech'. Not that I have always agreed with the message and the illustrations in this magazine, but this is a superfluous and unsolicited argument at this stage. This act is not about being at odds but about coercion, bullying, intimidation and abuse. The way I see it, this magazine represents one stronghold of secularism that today has been hit diametrically.
The beguiling issue here is that now that details are starting to emerge we get to know that the people who were killed had their names called out. They were asked to identify themselves, which they did.
And it was always like that with these cartoonists.
With all the threats, intimidation and bullying, they still got on with it.
They never hid behind any balaclava or pseudo-military uniforms, Kalashnikovs or RPGs. They have never cried out anyone's name be it a god or a person before hitting out with their pen. They got on with their business trying to interpret the social facts the way they see them, having remained loyal to what they represent in their claims.
With the risk of sounding calamitous, let it be known that it takes hundreds of years to turn a country into a democracy to learn the lessons of broadmindedness, tolerance and forbearance, to learn to live together - but it will take only a couple of similar incidents to break up all of this.
I'm terrified that the impact of this tragedy that we have just witnessed in the streets of Paris will see three things happening. The first is a further rise of the far right. This movement will be seen as a way of acting in response to these horrendous acts. Secondly, we will see the rise of Islamic fundamentalism as a response to the retort. It will create a situation where the unleashing of fundamentalism will take place more intensely. Thirdly, these two social conditions will further perpetuate a divided community, a society that will find it even more difficult for people to live together, where race, color and religion will meet head-on and collude.
I am not one to enjoy putting blame, but unless the moderate, rational, clear thinking Muslims take on stronger leadership in such issues and position themselves clearly in terms of what Islam really represents, unless they disassociate themselves from such behavior and are vociferous against such acts of hatred, I'm afraid that odium will be further compounded and fury will hold sway. If good intentioned Muslims don't articulate their thoughts on what this beautiful faith is about, it's going to be increasingly difficult for people to separate the wheat from the chaff.
As one of our best local cartoonists Steve Bonello said on his Facebook page, "A generation of cartoonists is murdered at one go. Not funny" - I raise my pen.