Editorial: Love in the wake of Brussels terrorism
The hand-drawn message is inscribed in a pastel pink and adorned with butterflies: "Love one another."
In these difficult days, it calls wistfully to mind the words of poet Maya Angelou, "We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."
It is a simple artwork, drawn on a wall near the Place de la Bourse in the center of Brussels, Belgium, that catches our eyes from the array of memorials that sprang up in response to last week's terrorist attacks.
"Love one another."
It would, of course, be Pollyannaish to believe that love is the sole adequate response to terrorism. Unfortunately, this is not a war that can be won with pacifism. Terror must be met with resolve and with intelligence and with strength or it can never be defeated.
But it would be naive also to believe that superior and keenly targeted force is all that is needed to stop an ideology of maniacal hatred.
It is good to remember that during these dark times, the love we show each other provides the comfort that gets us through and the courage that helps us persevere.
And perhaps that's the only message the artist at that wall in Brussels was trying to convey.
But love is not just a comfort in these times.
It also is our ideology, our life-affirming idea that ultimately wins out over a cause of hate and intolerance and death.
"When we love," the Brazilian author Paul Coelho once said, "we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too."
This ultimately is our strength in the war against terror. It is as much a war for hearts and minds as it is one of bullets and body counts.
In that call to arms, let our message be of hope, respect and liberty, tolerance and understanding, and let it ring out around the globe.
It is a call that cherishes life rather than death, inclusion rather than prejudice, progress rather than despair, love rather than hate.
This must in all ways be integral in our response to the recruiting messages circulated by those who would engineer war against innocents.
To those who would be tempted by terrorism's lusty call, let us advise: Choose life, not death; choose affection, not tears.
And to our brothers and sisters in Brussels, let us send this universal wish: Aimer l'un l'autre.
Yes, love one another.