“You killed the love of my life but you don’t get my hatred” wrote the husband of one of those murdered by terrorists in Paris.
“I don’t know who you are but I will not grant you the gift of my hatred because responding to (your) hatred with anger and hatred is to fall victim to the same ignorance that has made you what you are.
“If this God, for whom you kill blindly, made us in his own image, every bullet in the body of my wife would have been one more wound in his heart. My son Melvil is just waking up from his nap. He will eat and play as usual, and for all of his life this little boy will threaten you by being happy and free.
“You have lost: we two are stronger than you.”
These are some of Antoine Leiris’ words to the murderer of his wife Helene in the Bataclan concert hall in Paris. As we read them what do they say to us?
Rev’d John Tonkin
Vicar’s Comment – January 2015
“You killed the love of my life but you don’t get my hatred” wrote the husband of one of those murdered by terrorists in Paris.
“I don’t know who you are but I will not grant you the gift of my hatred because responding to (your) hatred with anger and hatred is to fall victim to the same ignorance that has made you what you are.
“If this God, for whom you kill blindly, made us in his own image, every bullet in the body of my wife would have been one more wound in his heart. My son Melvil is just waking up from his nap. He will eat and play as usual, and for all of his life this little boy will threaten you by being happy and free.
“You have lost: we two are stronger than you.”
These are some of Antoine Leiris’ words to the murderer of his wife Helene in the Bataclan concert hall in Paris. As we read them what do they say to us?
Rev’d John Tonkin