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Antoine Leiris, a man from Paris lost his wife in the Bataclan Concert Hall Massacre, but he did not change his display picture on Facebook as a sign of protest.
He did not protest in anger and frustration at having lost a loved one. He did something that was both unexpected and worth all our respect.
He wrote an open letter to the ISIS militants and instead of lashing out his hate and anger, he wrote this:
Here’s a full transcript of what he wrote:
“You will not have my hatred”
Friday night you stole the life of an exceptional being, the love of my life, the mother of my son, but you will not have my hatred. I do not know who you are and I do not want to know, you are dead souls. If God, for which you kill blindly made us in his image, every bullet in the body of my wife has been a wound in His heart.So no, I will not give you this gift to hate you. You have it coming, but if I respond to hatred by anger that would be giving in, to the same ignorance that made you what you are. You want I’m afraid, that I should look at my fellow citizens with a look of suspicion, that I sacrifice my freedom for security. Lost. Same player still playing.I saw her this morning. Finally, after days and nights of waiting. She was as beautiful as when she left this Friday night, as beautiful as when I fell in love with here 12 years back. Of course I am devastated by grief, I grant you this small victory, but it will be short lived. I know she will be there with us every day and we will be in this paradise of free souls that you will never have access to.We are two, my son and I, but we are stronger than all the armies in the world. I have also no more time for you, I must join Melvil, who wakes up from a nap. He is only 17 months old, he eats his lunch like every day, then we will play like every day and his whole life that little boy will affront you by being happy and free. Because no, you won’t have his hatred either.
Friday night you stole the life of an exceptional being, the love of my life, the mother of my son, but you will not have my hatred. I do not know who you are and I do not want to know, you are dead souls. If God, for which you kill blindly made us in his image, every bullet in the body of my wife has been a wound in His heart.So no, I will not give you this gift to hate you. You have it coming, but if I respond to hatred by anger that would be giving in, to the same ignorance that made you what you are. You want I’m afraid, that I should look at my fellow citizens with a look of suspicion, that I sacrifice my freedom for security. Lost. Same player still playing.I saw her this morning. Finally, after days and nights of waiting. She was as beautiful as when she left this Friday night, as beautiful as when I fell in love with here 12 years back. Of course I am devastated by grief, I grant you this small victory, but it will be short lived. I know she will be there with us every day and we will be in this paradise of free souls that you will never have access to.We are two, my son and I, but we are stronger than all the armies in the world. I have also no more time for you, I must join Melvil, who wakes up from a nap. He is only 17 months old, he eats his lunch like every day, then we will play like every day and his whole life that little boy will affront you by being happy and free. Because no, you won’t have his hatred either.
In a world where everybody is ready to kill, this man’s positivity is infectious
And it makes you want to believe that there is still hope for humanity, and there are people who are still out there who just want to live life and let others live theirs. Way to go, Antoine.
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