Terrorism: A Worldwide Crisis[FINAL]

Terrorism is a problem that began since man formed leaders and his own beliefs. It has become a worldwide problem nowadays and still exists even on this generation and will surely exist in more generations to come.

People have different opinions and view points for terrorism; but what is the real meaning of that vague word? The dictionary has these groups of words as definitions for terrorism:
1. The use of terrorizing methods
2. The state of fear and submission so produced
3. terroristic methods of governing or of resisting a government

From these definitions, one can conclude that everyone has capabilities to do terrorizing acts or commit terrorism; but lately, people can see that terrorism has always been associated with religion, or so the media have said. The definition of terrorism in the dictionary did not mention anything with differences in their religions; but why terrorism nowadays has been always about Islam versus Christians? Does it have anything to do about differences in beliefs; or just plain evil of the human being?

Events worldwide that are caused by terrorism have always been connected with the Islam personalities like Osama Bin Laden and the group Al Qaeda. In the Philippines, we have MILF that truly resist government and want to lead Mindanao to claim as their own. Some events that happened in the history were the 9/11 bombing and some hostage takings worldwide. Others even happened on small scale in the community.

All problems have the same behavior, and terrorism has it too: A CAUSE.
Terrorism was born when people tend to have different beliefs and became more independent of what they think. One cause of terrorism is the different beliefs and/or religion. When people believed in to something thoroughly, it is very difficult to change their perceptions.

Islam and Christian were the two major religions in the world. Both have many similarities and equally many differences as well. Looking in the history, many acts of terrorism happened between Christians and Muslims. Bombing, hijacking, suicide bombings and “holy wars” are examples of these incidents.

Another cause of terrorism would be the people that go against the government. Examples of these are the MILF, which became active again for its recent activities. We can see that religion can be a factor again because majority (or all) of the people in the government are Christians and majority of the people resisting the administration in the Mindanao are Muslims.

Next in line are the people who resist change; again, influenced by their religious beliefs and cultures. Example of which is Mahatma Gandhi’s assassination, where change is not welcomed by everybody. “Mahatma Gandhi was shot by a Hindu fanatic extremist while walking to his prayer meeting in the lawn of Birla House, New Delhi.” (http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/1948/jan/31/india.fromthearchive)

Last in the list of causes is the greed of power. This is the most common trait that humans have. This is also a major cause of terrorism because people tend to sacrifice other’s life for their own sake. Example of this is Vladimir III’s reign in Walachia where he killed thousands of people by impaling them on stakes, which is, a gruesome act of terrorism.


Terrorism affects many innocent people and is the cause of countless deaths. The effects of it are also very considerable. It affects us socially, politically and economically.

Socially, fear among citizens develops which cause traumatic effects especially on young members in the community. People become less trusting and more paranoid in the environment around him. This can be proven by people who witnessed terrorizing acts around him.

Politically, it affects the country by having political breakdowns and more opposition arise. People tend to blame the government for all the bad things happening to the country and execute or organize rallies that affect the government and the country itself. Most people are one-sided or do not have an open mind, these people are the ones who always hard-headed and listening is not in their choice of actions.

Economically, terrorism affects us too. Firms and business establishments tend to halt their operations due to fear and bankrupt as a result of terrorism. Example is bombing, which can end lives and businesses too. Another example is the fear it brought to tourists which affect us greatly economically. Recently, fewer tourists visit our country because of terrorism threats, which affect our national profit as a whole. Take our landmarks for example; one can be sure that fewer and fewer tourists visit the Philippines due to safety reasons.

Although terrorism became a major problem to us, different solutions have been done to control it. Worldwide, security has been heightened to protect important people like leaders. United Kingdom’s also helped countries that have been terrorized by sending troops to help. Example of which is US, which gave American soldiers to protect Filipinos from MILF in Mindanao. The advantage of this can be seen from the decreasing crimes linked on terrorism while the American troops are positioned. Like any other solution, it also has a disadvantage; after the troops went back, crimes associated to terrorism began to rise again. This solution is very similar to a Filipino game called ‘patintero’; because the terrorists only became dormant when the American troops were here and became increasingly active again, when American soldiers were withdrawn. Just like in the game, the player is only active when the defender or ‘taya’ in Filipino is disturbed or not looking at a moment. With this solution, one can clearly judge how greatly trained soldiers are here in the Philippines (sarcastically).

I read an article that MILF should not take ransom to its victims when they take hostages or kidnap people:

The home network of Drilon and the largest broadcasting network in the Philippines, ABS-CBN, follows a strict "no ransom" policy but has said in a statement that they cannot object if the families pay for the release of their loved ones.
I wish I could say that there should be a law against paying ransom to kidnappers. But put in that position, I would also choose to pay for the release of a kidnapped family member. (said the negotiator, http://www.nowpublic.com/world/kidnap-negotiator-lucrative-career-philippines)

I found this law or agreement funny. First, who would kidnap and put his life in danger without being insured of having some favorable benefits with it? Who would take an ordinary person and held it captive for no reason at all? This law, in other words, does not need to be implemented at all because it will not be followed anyway.

Not like this failed solutions, I thought of my own solutions too. First, a non-violent approach: show your love and respect to other people even to your enemies. Talk to them as much as possible in a friendly way. But just like any other solutions, this seems impossible to solve the problem. People always (and I mean always) tend to be hard-headed.

Another solution would be to set aside the differences. Even though we have different beliefs, we should respect all man as our family and friends. Do not let the differences in the religion be a wall that separates every man with different beliefs. This will not be effective at first, but a calm peaceful way will always be the answer. I personally don’t mind religion differences when talking to someone.

Lastly, LISTEN. Have an open mind at all times and consider others feeling. Be the one to understand. Everybody needs to adapt in order to be in peace. Resisting change and having a close-mind is the cause of all problems.

“One can wake up a sleeping man but how do you wake up a man who is pretending to sleep". (We can change someone who does not know what is happening; but we cannot change someone who does not want to be changed.)