brighter, made them all braver, made them all want to be better.
The darkness cannot abide the light. So Sabeen received repeated death threats. But she refused to back down because she was courage personified. She spoke because her lips were free, her tongue was hers, her body was hers, her life and soul were hers. By example she showed us that our lips, tongues, bodies and souls were also free.
So we speak. And we will continue to speak, to use our voices, to raise our voices, to express, to communicate, to exchange ideas, to exchange information, to debate, to discuss, to open our minds and not close them, to open our hearts and not harden them, to include and not to exclude, to have courage and to have no fear. We will not be cowed down and we will not be beaten down.
We will not be beaten down because we feel that freedom is worth fighting for, freedom of expression is worth fighting for, justice is worth fighting for, ideas are worth fighting for, knowledge is worth fighting for, innovation is worth fighting for, information is worth fighting for.
We will not be cowed down because music is worth fighting for, art is worth fighting for, culture is worth fighting for, words are worth fighting for. This society is worth fighting for, this country is worth fighting for, our people – all of our people and especially our young people – are worth fighting for.
Sabeen’s death has left us breathless, bereft. But her light has not been extinguished. It cannot be extinguished. She ignited a fire within all of us and that fire burns brighter than ever. We will not be silenced. We will fight. We will fight but not with bullets or guns.
Our ammunition will be our thoughts. Our bullets will be our words. Put one of us down and two will rise. Put two down and four will stand up. We are legion. We are Sabeen.
The writer is a freelance columnist.
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