Je suis Charlie

I never heard of Charlie Hebdo before this week. When I first heard the news, I panicked, "Oh my God, they shot the Prime Minister of France!! No wait, that's Sarkozy...isn't there a new guy now? Who the hell is Charlie Hebdo and why do terrorists want to kill him?"

My confusion sorted out, I started to think about this tragedy. This is about evil people not wanting their flaws brought to light. This is about someone who dared to speak up being silenced. This is about an unpopular opinion in certain groups being quieted. This is about open communication and free dialogue being eliminated. This is about someone's choice to consider a different opinion being taken away by force. This is tyranny through fear and malice. This is pure hatred.

This is not about Muslim versus Christian. This is not about Palestinian versus Jew. This is not about White versus Black. This is not about Big Business versus the Working Man. This is about silencing the voice that disagrees. This is about making your opinion the only one that matters. This is about capitulation through fear. That's why this is so awful. That's why this can't be allowed to be forgotten. That's why the people who perpetuated this awful act need to be brought to justice.

If there is no dissenting opinion, there is no dialogue. If there is no dialogue, there is no discussion. If there is no discussion, there is no understanding. And if there is no understanding, there is only oppression. I don't want to live in a world where I can't speak my mind-whether through satire or over coffee with my girlfriends. I don't want to be somewhere that open communication and free discussion are limited. I don't want to raise my son in a world where dissenting ideas are discouraged and feared. I want to learn from others who might have a varied perspective from mine or who have traveled a different path and have had different experiences. Just because you saw different flowers than I did on the path you chose, does not mean that the flowers I saw don't exist. And who can say which ones are prettier?

I never heard of Charlie Hebdo before this week, but now, I am Charlie. I stand with the brave men and women who weren't afraid to say what they believed and have now paid with their lives. I don't stand with them out of fear or out of pity, or out of outrage, I stand with them because I must. I stand with them because they weren't afraid to point out the flaws they found with other ideas and, right or wrong, opened the avenue of discourse to something they didn't understand. I stand with them because they took a stand. We should all be so brave to speak up when something doesn't seem right-and if we can do it with humor and a satiric wink, even better. Je suis Charlie, because I feel sorry for anyone who isn't.