Love or Hatred?

It's two p. m. on Palm Sunday.

Bello steps over the remains of some people, taking care not to desecrate their bodies. His mood is heavy, very heavy. He soon gets to the corner of the church and sees a girl lying there lifeless, her eyes still wide open. From her looks, she probably was about fifteen, yet her missing skirt suggests what fate she was subjected to. Bello closes his eyes, and takes a deep breath. A short while after, he opens them, bends over Aliayah's corpse, and closes her eyes. Getting back up, he looks around the church, now soiled with blood and death. He's not even sure what to think of everything.

Fellow operatives are in the building, trying to assess whatever it is they are assessing. Bello looks to the altar. The church had made a banner, a banner of the Son of Man entering triumphantly into Jerusalem on a donkey, with palms lifted around Him. Bello gets lost in the image for a while.

Do you see this Lord? Do you see Your people suffering?

There's no answer. Bello walks outside the church premises. His steps heavy but yet steady. He walks over to a well and looks into it. Therein is a body floating in the water. He looks at the body for a moment before saying.

“There's one in here.”

A few people around him hear his words and come over. They see the body in the well. Some sigh. Some hold their breaths. But soon, they begin working on pulling it out. Bello finds a rock a little distance away from him and sits down.

He bows his head, and his lips begin to move. His words are inaudible, but it's obvious he's making a prayer. The sound of splashing water soon causes him to raise his head. Close to him, a fellow operative is washing blood off her hands. Bello stares at her actions for a while. Then, she notices him.

“Good afternoon sir.”

She tries to smile, but it's not too easy in the condition they're in. Bello nods.

“Good afternoon.”

Seeing his mood, the lady moves closer to Bello and sits next to him. They both observe the area. Their thoughts many. Bello sighs.

“I'm trying not to hate these people.”

The lady looks at her boss, stays quiet for a while, then responds.

“Well Chief, that might be why we respect you; you still try.”

Bello looks at her. Their eyes do not avoid the other.

“When did you cross?”

The lady isn't sure what crossing he's asking about.

“Sir?”

“You used to be the one to preach to me about loving my enemies and praying for them, when did you join the others?”

The lady smiles bitterly. She takes her gaze away from the chief and begins to look at the ground.

“They took my brother three weeks ago.”

Bello's face warps in complete surprise.

“How did I not know? I'm sorry. How did I not know?”

The lady's eyes become watery. How would he know? How would anyone know? Wasn't her brother just another one of the ‘twelve dead in attack on x village’?

“I didn't tell anyone.”

She picks up a palm leaf, begins to cut pieces off and throw them to the ground, her mind definitely not in the compound anymore.

“I'm sorry.”

The lady doesn't talk for a while but then breaks the silence.

“They say you lost someone too, your mother.”

“And a month ago, my friend...”

The lady chuckles in wonder.

“Like I said chief, it's why we respect you. These things aren't people, chief, they crossed that threshold ages ago.”

The lady gets up and leaves Bello to his thoughts. Watching her leave, Bello isn't sure what to think. Is hating them the solution? Hatred won't bring the dead back, neither will it save the living. Though he says this, his heart is raging. Disgust is welling up in his soul. An angry feeling. Were these still worthy of being called people? With acts like these?

He sighs.

Just then, a wind seems to blow to his side, and rest beside him. A sound enters his mind. He begins to sing, weakly.

“Father, oh won't You forgive them, they don't know what they've been doing. Father give me grace to forgive them, ‘cause I feel like the one losing.”

The man then sighs, looks to the heavens, shuts his eyes and prays, mutters actually.

“Give me grace to forgive them. I feel like I'm losing; I know I'm losing. Save us oh Lord.”

The operatives continue their work. Bello gets up from the stone and begins to move outside the compound. To love or to hate, that isn't his duty as an officer. His duty is to ensure things like this don't happen, and should they happen, he should be able to play a part in bringing justice, no matter how little that part is.

But then, what about his duty as a Christian?