A day before the Paris attacks that left at least 120 dead and the country in lockdown, suicide bombings in Beirut left 43 dead and 239 wounded. The attack was reportedly carried out by an ISIS cell sent to Lebanon from the group’s stronghold in Syria. 

The Delhi-based, Indian blogger, Karuna Ezara Parikh has written a poem that has gone viral since the Paris attacks. “It’s not Paris we should pray for,” she wrote. “It is the world. It is a world in which Beirut, reeling from bombings … is not covered in the press.”

Today I am still reflecting on Karuna Ezara Parikh’s poem, which has now been reproduced on the Internet thousands of times.

She explained why she wrote the poem: “I woke this morning deeply disturbed by the news from Paris, but more amazed by the attention it received on social media. I understand Paris is a beloved and familiar space for a lot of people, but it troubled me that Beirut, a city my father grew up in, had received so little attention after the horrific bombings two days earlier. 

“It also troubled me that Baghdad, a place I have absolutely no connection with, received even less attention after the senseless bombing that took place there last week.

“Worst of all, I found the understanding of the refugee crisis skewed and simplistic. If you’ve been following the journeys of the people leaving their homes around the world right now, perhaps you’ll understand why the words SyrianRefugeeCrisis are just as devastating as PrayForParis. It’s time to pray for humanity. It is time to make all places beloved. It’s time to pray for the world.”

Next week end — following my university lcture on that subjct this coming week — some reflections about ISIS: what and why……..and what to do.