Dear Planet Earth
The events that unfolded in Paris this week cannot be described with mere words. To describe such loss of life as a tragedy seems too weak, too disrespectful.
But as shocking and devastating as this act of terrorism was, it has been events that have unfurled since that have shocked me more.
I was party to a conversation earlier today in which friends of mine, who are well-educated and rounded individuals living in a multi-cultural society, reacted to the shootings in Paris.
At first there was disbelief and anger in their words, feelings that I too experienced.
But for them these feelings soon turned to hate, and not hate of the terrorists.
Not hate of an extremist organisation hell-bent on turning the world against itself, but hatred of an entire religion.
And this is what I fear the most.
In an age of terrorism seem on an unprecedented scale in the modern world I live in fear not of the terrorist's gun or of the suicide bomber, but of what these acts of terror are turning civilised human beings from all walks of life into.
When I hear ordinary people on the street calling for death to all Muslims or calling for the expulsion of Islam from the Western world I fear that our very humanity is on the verge if extinction.
For that is what these extremists want - for the world to turn against itself.
For the world to be destroyed in a self-apocalyptic spiral of hate and prejudice.
You may have noticed that I have not labelled these terrorists as religious extremists as this is not what they are.
The world needs to wake up to the fact that religion plays no part in the atrocities we have seen in Paris this week, or in London on 7/7 or America in 9/11.
The world needs to unite as one people and take a stand. Take a stand and say: "We will not be broken."
I for one will not bow down to these extremists who murder innocents in the name of a religion they do not understand.
I will not let them instil in me a hatred of my fellow human beings.
And now I call on you, children of planet earth, to unite as one and take a stand against this tirade of hate and fear that threatens to engulf our cities and drown us all.
So unite with me now regardless of your race, gender, sexuality, beliefs, politics, age, nationality, skin colour, language or religion and take a stand.
Come together with me in one voice and say: "We will not be broken."
I for one refuse to give up on a world in which I still believe in the fundamental goodness of the human heart, no matter what the savage acts of a minority may try to do to shake that belief.
To overcome the dangers that face us we must put aside our differences and unite in love and hope.
If humanity unites as one under a banner of acceptance and tolerance than we can overcome this evil that stands before us.
If we unite as one we cannot lose. If we turn against each other we cannot win.
So unite with me now and take a stand against hate.
We will not be broken.
