2015/11/14

FOR PARIS

Every music lover I ever met was a person of peace, and tonight’s show in Moscow goes out to all the victims in Paris. Impossible to comprehend such cruelty, such madness. But the march towards peace, towards understanding one another, towards communication won’t be defeated by these terrible crimes. Our humanity is broader than the things we do to one another. And the capacity of love to endure greater than any individual act of evil. I think the challenge we have in these times is to broaden ourselves rather than narrow our opinions. If we allow our view point to become reactive, our own politics to radicalise, then we play into the very goals and targets these terrorists set out in the first place. It becomes a question of courage, to find solace not in hatred, but to stay true to the values at the centre of our civilisation. Music lovers represent to me a symbol of this civilisation – because of the broadness of their spirit; their openness. This openness is a celebration of the deepest roots of our society, values that should be cherished. These values are at the heart of the aspiration, the dream and the challenge of peace : in ourselves, in society, in the world. Tonight’s show is for this hope, simply of a better world, and the belief that it remains, as ever open and available to us. Grab your neighbour and love them, nothing is more powerful, nothing more undefeatable. And nothing sends a more powerful message to those with hatred in their hearts. Hatred is temporary, weak, cowardly, and nothing in comparison to our capacity to love.

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