Photo by Nayef Hashlamoun
You have seen the walls and chain-link fences, the cold concrete barriers, corralling thousands of tired, angry, desperate, grey-faced, tearful human beings; you’ve seen the ruins where a house stood just some hours, maybe days, before.
You’ve seen the jackboot stamping on the neck.Now see the cold, hard gaze six feet above the boot; see what lies behind that impenetrable veil: A battle raging, blood boiling, a hint of a clenched jaw, a spot of spittle and foam at the corner of the mouth; a flushed cheek; a quiver; bravado and a constricted breath— all signifying what? Triumph? Pleasure? Maybe even a hint of fear, bewilderment and shame, as the breath and livers of old stormtroopers attest. Look as you might, and you will not find out; the veil is, after all, impenetrable.
And yet you have to look, and search, and wonder: For what kills, enslaves, uproots, tears brick from brick, is not a force of nature but a human being too, with blood, flesh, tendons, and a soul. So you must ask: What lies behind the evil that lurks within the hearts of men? You must do this not to make its cause more just; but to understand it, for that evil also lurks within your heart, and mine, and only through compassion can it be defeated.
If you look past the iron curtain that veils the invader’s soul you can perceive what makes him tick: For the curtain is not so much to hide his evil from you, but to hide it from himself. Very, very few the men and women are that see evil in themselves; instead, they make believe that they protect, and not destroy; not for nothing it is said: The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
The invader would not invade, the guard would not beat down, and the soldier would not shoot if it were not for the impenetrable veil that hides from them the humanity of their victim. Look, and you will see the fragile, fervently defended house of cards of false beliefs and futile fears, of promises and lies, and of illusions and excuses that brace and underlie the iron curtain without which the evil it enables could not exist.
