Project Vision 21

Francisco Miraval

After the killing of 12 people last week at the office of a satirical publication in Paris, the expression “I am Charlie” (in reference to Charlie Hebdo) began to be used again and again to show solidarity with those murdered and to ask for an end of terrorism and intolerance. I used that expression in my social networking sites, but now it is time to explain that I am Charlie and I am not (only) Charlie.

Let me say that I am not Charlie because I don’t have the creativity, the imagination, or the resources Hebdo had to share his message with so many people. What I do is very limited: a story here, a commentary there and that’s it. And I don’t use caricatures.

Also, I don’t make my living making fun of people or of what people do or believe. I see myself as challenging people to reflect about their own thoughts and the consequences of their thoughts. But it is not my intention to make fun of anybody, except of course myself.

Also, I am not Charlie because, as many other people who are not Charlie, if something bad (God forbid) will ever happen to us, I don’t think there will be a march of millions of people offering their support and asking for peace and justice.

Yet, I can identify with Charlie. It has happened just a few times, but it did happen to me, that people came to my office to let me know they were angry because of something I said or I wrote. I know I am not perfect and, in spite of all my attention to detail, I will make a mistake or I will say something faster than my brain can process.

In other words, I am sure that during my life I said many things, even unintentionally, that made some people mad. However, so far, people, even angry people, showed compassion, tolerance, and even forgiveness, leading me at times to reflect about my actions. I was hoping for Charlie to receive compassion and forgiveness.

If we are going to react violently and kill everybody who says something offending us and that we certainly disagree, then nobody will be left alive on this planet. Also, unfortunately we have already developed many ways to kill each other, mostly without any real reason to do it.

So, I am Charlie and I am not Charlie. And I can’t be only Charlie. I feel I also have to be the missing Mexican student, the kidnapped Nigerian girl, the decapitated Iraqi Christian, the Indian farmer evited from his own land by a multinational company, and even the young Latino man told by his “counselor” not to go to college.

I am Charlie and I was delighted to see so much solidarity with Charlie. By I will cry without stopping the day I see millions of people marching in solidarity with those affected by other tragedies. Let the solidarity be global and let creativity replace violence.