If I get murdered in a terrorist attack, after or before this video is released, everything I say still stands.
Okay.

YES! You read that correctly. I love terrorists!
Now before you go and send this to President Trump to have me arrested, just wait until the end of the video.

I said wait until the end of the damn video!

How do we love the “Evil”?
How do we love those who do not deserve it?
How do we love those who commit vicious acts against innocent woman and children?
Well … What is love?

Please allow a man much wiser than me to explain, a man who Martin Luther King nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Zen monk Thich Naht Hanh says “Understanding”, is love’s other name.
For some people “Love” may be too strong a word, I get it! So let’s us the word “Understand”.
“If we want to END terrorism, then we have to get serious about understanding it” – Noam Chomsky.

Now, I know what you are thinking:
Who the hell are YOU to tell me about terrorists?
I know a thing or two about terrorists! Kill ‘em all! And their families!

NO.
But you’re right, you’re right. Who am I, to tell you anything about terrorists?
I hold no government position …
I don’t know the ins and outs of terrorist organizations;
I don’t even watch the news.
So please feel free, to continue listening to those “civilized gentlemen” on television, screaming at each other.
See, what makes me different is that I know one terrorist personally and … I’ll probably get into a lot of trouble for saying this, but yes … We grew up together.
In fact, we all know him.
And that is the terrorist that exists inside of each and every one of us.
The one who latches onto a belief, and destroys everything in its path, in allegiance to that belief.

Every terrorist attack starts in here, as a seed … and grows into an ugly tree.
You know those trees that are all twisted and distorted?
You know why they look like that?
It’s because they started growing under stress.
And they’re trying to make their way through the stress, up to the light.

People are just like that.
When we see someone with a twisted, distorted perception, doing ugly, harmful things …
That is because they too have been planted in a twisted, stressful environment.
And they are trying to find their way … up to the light.
But unfortunately, they end up creating more darkness.

Put your emotions and hard heartedness aside for one second,
and you will see that everyone is doing the best they can with what they have been given.
And if you had their exact history, conditions,
if their suffering was your suffering,
if their level of consciousness was your level of consciousness,
then you would think, act and behave exactly as they do.

What is so hard to understand about that?
This is not condoning,
this is not approving,
this is understanding.
This is love.
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow puts it brilliantly:
“If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we would find in them enough sorrow and suffering to disarm all of our hostility”.
I can’t be the first one who has figured this out!

“Terrorism” is not the problem.
That is a lie that has been carried out for far too long!
There are no terrorists!
There are people who do terrorist acts!
There’s a difference!

When you call someone a “terrorist”, you become psychologically incapable of seeing the person anymore.
Meaning … you no longer see the causes that created this effect.
And now, you only see an abstraction!
And when you declare war on an abstraction, you fight a ghost!
And it never ends.

In fact, when you declare war on anything, you will get more of it!
That is the law, the rule, the truth, a certainty!
Do I need to remind you how the war on drugs, created more drug dealers?
Well, the war on terror did the same thing!

According to U.S. governmental data following the invasion of Iraq,
terrorism increased by a factor of seven.
Proving once again that fighting for peace is just as stupid,
as screwing … for virginity.
Yeah … virginity.
Let’s get real!
If we are to prevent terrorism from spreading,
instead of promoting toughness,
let’s promote education!
Instead of building more walls,
let’s build more bridges!
Instead of dropping more bombs,
let us create more jobs, more opportunity, more mindfulness and entrepreneurial training for young people, who are the most susceptible to radicalization.

So that that 17 year old kid can come up with innovative solutions to the challenges in his town that don’t include AK – 47’s.
Instead of sending troops, what if we sent food and medicine!
Helping with disease and hunger!
What if we promoted love?

Oh my god! No! We cannot do that!
Why not?
You know what that would do?
That would change the “America is Evil”-Narrative used by terrorist organizations to recruit.
Thereby, their recruiting base, which relied on hatred and desperation, will dry up faster, than we could ever kill it, with more bombs.

See, love doesn’t mean that we don’t protect ourselves.
Love doesn’t mean that actions don’t have consequences or that we don’t respond with a clear message.

No.
Love means we do it all … From a place of understanding.
Because if we don’t … Hatred will continue to poison our response.
And hatred, my friends, never ceases with more hatred … But by love alone is healed.
Peace.