Directive for the Agents of Terror

I hope

that the next time you hurt someone

you feel their pain

as if it were your own.

~

That when you see their tears,

you won’t even realize you’ve begun to cry

until you are weeping

on your hands and knees.

~

That when you see the terror

in their eyes

you feel a fear that makes you shake so hard,

the strength has left your hands

and you cannot grip your weapon.

~

That when you see the children

that you locked away in cells

you have an urgent and irrepressible need

to call your mother

or father

or grandparent

and ask them where they are

and when you can come home again.

~

That when you kill someone

it breaks your heart.

~

Evil

is not hate

but apathy.

~

Apathy

cannot exist

in empathy.

~

So I hope

that the next time you hurt someone

you feel their pain

as if it were your own.

~

And you will lay down your gun

and walk away.