The world is in fear.

In just 24 hours time, where most of us are now enjoying our weekend peacefully here in Malaysia, 3 terrorist attacks have took place in Beirut, Baghdad and Paris.

Thursday night, at least 43 deaths and 250 injured in Beirut.

Friday morning, another 18 deaths and 41 injured in Baghdad.

Then comes Friday night, more than 129 deaths and 300 injured in Paris.

With just 3 terrorist attacks, ISIS has struck fear upon the world on an unprecedented level.

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Moderation

The world is now in an extreme environment. Almost everything had reached its tipping point. When you look into politics, the world is now more divided than united. When you look into economy, there are a clear gap between the rich and poor. When you look into ideology, faiths and beliefs are being manipulated. Wherever you look into, there will always be two extremes.

We have long since learned that in order to have balance in nature, we need moderation. We need it so badly that everyone is talking about it and several parties are even moderating moderation. But is it enough?

The recent strikes in Beirut, Baghdad and Paris told us the answer: No.

Moderation is still far from our reach and we have been turning a blind eye on this issue all along. The key to solving any problem is to recognize there is a problem first, and lacking moderation and growing extremism is a problem.

We take a look at our own beloved nation. In recent years, extreme groups with growing extreme ideology and opinions have been seeping through the cracks of our ignorance wall. We take moderation for granted and instead of viewing moderation as an education, we view it as a natural occurring event of Malaysians – which is not true looking at our current state.

So with this alarming terrorist attacks, what can we learn from it?

Practicing moderation may seem like an easy task but the truth is that it requires constant reminder and education to practice it well. Take this event as an example, why would terrorists so willingly to sacrifice their own (and others) lives to do what they did? Have they no humanity and moral? Do they not know that it is wrong in so many levels?

They are so very blinded by their own faith and belief that they would do anything just to convince the others that their faith is the ultimate and impenetrable truth.

What if they are taught about moderating their own beliefs? If someone were to educate them constantly that it is okay for them to practice their beliefs and it is okay for the others to not follow their beliefs and that they should practice moderation, would the attacks still take place?

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Humanity

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It is a human nature to possess humanity for it is what makes a human, human. When such terrorist attacks occur, we see different world leaders speak out about how “inhuman” these attacks were and how these attacks are an act of war declared by ISIS to the world, especially to all humanity.

When we take a look at the world now, a lot of these inhuman events are still taking place even at this moment you’re reading this article. Human trafficking, child labour, forced prostitution, gender inequality, abusing of basic human rights, abusing of basic animal rights etc. are all real and happening.

Many have tried to prevent them, solve them, take action against them, fight them and voiced out against them. Many have also tried to join them, protect them, create them, legalize them and amplify them.

So what can we do as an independent individual and what can organizations such as AIESEC do as a youth leadership developing organization to raise our collective humanity and subsequently maintain moderation in our society?

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What can we do?

As an independent individual, one can choose to practice moderation in one’s thoughts and actions. If all of us can practice moderation, the collective effect would be far more efficient than just talking about it. Not only that, taking in the factor of humanity in every single action that we take, be it donating to charity, volunteering for a greater good, or even helping someone to cross the road is as important as practicing moderation.

As a youth leadership developing organization, AIESEC in Malaysia stands on the frontier of moderation and humanity in developing youths that knows clearly of their strengths and weaknesses, equip them with the ability to solve problems with the help of others, and plays a part in becoming a citizen of the world.

In AIESEC in Malaysia, we firmly believe that if we want to go far, we must go together. And that is the purpose of us developing youth leadership through exchange, so that we entrust the responsibility of creating a better future to equipped and capable youths, because they are the one who are responsible in creating their own future (good or bad).

So join us in our endeavour, give us a chance to develop you and help making positive changes to the world.

For we are not just an organization, we are a global youth movement.