By Kristy Puchko | Celebrity | November 16, 2015 |
By Kristy Puchko | Celebrity | November 16, 2015 |
Like many of you, I spent Friday night in a grim cycle of checking the news, checking Twitter, and feeling helpless as I watched evil unfold before my very eyes. Whether it is the violence enacted in Paris, Baghdad, Beirut or any other placed where an average day was ghoulishly transformed into a nightmare by vicious terrorists, it’s hard to know what to say. Unless you are Crimson Peak director Guillermo del Toro. Then you take this moment to share a personal story to make a plea for compassion over blind revenge.
What terror seeks is to provoke hatred- and thus, they will recruit the hated ones, the marginal, the desperate into their ranks.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 14, 2015
A memory in 8 tweets: During the captivity of my father- a time of enormous pain- two policemen came to see us. They had two proposals.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 14, 2015
The first was: For 5K, they would give us a room with the kidnappers, tied to a chair. They would provide a lead pipe & 15 minutes alone.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 14, 2015
The second one: For 10K they would make sure that- when the raid happened- all kidnappers would get killed and we’d get Polaroids.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 14, 2015
We said no. Absolutely no to both. We felt hatred and pain but could not be a part of the cycle of violence.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 14, 2015
72 days after his capture, my father was liberated.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 14, 2015
Months passed and several families that had gone through similar ordeals joined in a restaurant to have dinner and exchange support.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 14, 2015
During dinner: a small commotion. Some people rushed to the end of the long, long table. “What is it, I asked?” “Some photos” someone said.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 14, 2015
I stayed on my side of the table. Never looked. Perhaps someone had paid? I didn’t want to know.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 14, 2015
In times like this- when violence breeds violence, I think of that day and pray for wisdom and strength.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 14, 2015
I stay in vigil until hearing from everyone I know in Paris.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 14, 2015
Retweeted:
They can kill humans but they will never kill humanity. Vive La France.
— Eric Idle (@EricIdle) November 14, 2015
Cowards. Stay strong, Paris. Thoughts are with you all.
— Chris Evans (@ChrisEvans) November 14, 2015
The same disgusting group behind the Paris slaughter murdered scores of Arab Muslims yesterday in Beirut & Baghdad. We're in this together.
— Zack Stentz (@MuseZack) November 14, 2015
Being at a loss for words, I feel that anti-ISIS and anti-Assad Syrian blogger, Nader Atassi, has it right… pic.twitter.com/2YJZgBXeg1
— Megan Ellison (@meganeellison) November 14, 2015
Hating all Muslims for what happened in Paris is like hating all Christians because of the gay-hating Westboro Baptist Church.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) November 14, 2015
Over 200,000 people have died in Syria in the past 4.5 years.
That's a Paris attack EVERY SINGLE DAY.
That's what refugees are fleeing.
— Adam Khan (@Khanoisseur) November 14, 2015
Everyone in Paris (and nearby areas) that I wrote to has reported back to be shaken but alive. Many thanks to any and all persons helping.
— Guillermo del Toro (@RealGDT) November 15, 2015