Something DIED in me on Tuesday

by Amazing 48 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Trilobite

  Ginny,

  Excellent comments, as usual from you. Someone sent me the following email. I thought you might like it.

  T (Just another guy from East LA)

  ______________________________________

  This was forwarded to me by a friend. It is a response to Tuesday's violence by Deepak Chopra, who is a vociferous advocate for peace and
  compassion. He expresses so many feelings so very eloquently that I wanted to share it with you.

  In peace,
  Mary Elizabeth

  >From Deepak Chopra
  As fate would have it, I was leaving New York on a jet flight that
  took off 45 minutes before the unthinkable happened. By the time we
  landed in Detroit, chaos had broken out. When I grasped the fact that
  American security had broken down so tragically, I couldn't respond
  at first. My wife and son were also in the air on separate flights,
  one to Los Angeles, one to San Diego. My body went absolutely rigid
  with fear. All I could think about was their safety, and it took
  several hours before I found out that their flights had been diverted
  and both were safe. Strangely, when the good news came, my body
  still felt that it had been hit by a truck.
  Of its own accord it seemed to feel a far greater trauma that reached
  out to the thousands who would not survive and the tens of thousands
  who would survive only to live through months and years of hell. And
  I asked myself, Why didn't I feel this way last week? Why didn't my
  body go stiff during the bombing of Iraq or Bosnia? Around the world
  my horror and worry are experienced every day. Mothers weep over
  horrendous loss, civilians are bombed mercilessly, refugees are
  ripped from any sense of home or homeland. Why did I not feel their
  anguish enough to call a halt to it? As we hear the calls for
  tightened American security and a fierce military response to
  terrorism, it is obvious that none of us has any answers.
  However, we feel compelled to ask some questions. Everything has a
  cause, so we have to ask, What was the root cause of this evil? We
  must find out not superficially but at the deepest level. There is no
  doubt that such evil is alive all around the world and is even
  celebrated. Does this evil grow from the suffering and anguish felt
  by people we don't know and therefore ignore? Have they lived in this
  condition for a long time? One assumes that whoever did this attack
  feels implacable hatred for America. Why were we selected to be the
  focus of suffering around the world? All this hatred and anguish
  seems to have religion at its basis. Isn't something terribly wrong
  when jihads and wars develop in the name of God? Isn't God invoked
  with hatred in Ireland, Sri Lanka, India, Pakistan, Israel,
  Palestine, and even among the intolerant sects of America? Can any
  military response make the slightest difference in the underlying
  cause? Is there not a deep wound at the heart of humanity? If
  there is a deep wound, doesn't it affect everyone?
  When generations of suffering respond with bombs, suicidal attacks,
  and biological warfare, who first developed these weapons? Who sells
  them? Who gave birth to the satanic technologies now being turned
  against us? If all of us are wounded, will revenge work? Will
  punishment in any form toward anyone solve the wound or aggravate it?
  Will an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and limb for a limb,
  leave us all blind, toothless and crippled? Tribal warfare has been
  going on for two thousand years and has now been magnified globally.
  Can tribal warfare be brought to an end? Is patriotism and
  nationalism even relevant anymore, or is this another form of
  tribalism? What are you and I as persons going to do about what is
  happening? Can we afford to let the deeper wound fester any longer?
  Everyone is calling this an attack on America, but is it not a rift
  in our collective soul? Isn't this an attack on civilization from
  without that is also from within?
  When we have secured our safety once more and cared for the wounded,
  after the period of shock and mourning is over, it will be time for
  soul searching. I only hope that these questions are confronted with
  the deepest spiritual intent. None of us will feel safe again behind
  the shield of military might and stockpiled arsenals. There can be no
  safety until the root cause is faced. In this moment of shock I don't
  think anyone of us has the answers. It is imperative that we pray and
  offer solace and help to each other. But if you and I are having a
  single thought of violence or hatred against anyone in the world at
  this moment, we are contributing to the wounding of the world.
  Love, Deepak

  "When you're finally up on the moon, looking back at the earth, all these differences and nationalistic traits are pretty well going to blend and you're
  going to get a concept that maybe this is really one world and why the hell can't we learn to live together like decent people?" ~ Borman Frank ~
• 

  myMichelle

  Something in me changed on Tuesday as well...I started to tremble when I consider the future.

  I weep for all the people whose lives were snuffed out, I weep for the families and friends they leave behind. I weep with pride when I hear the stories of bravery on the part of passengers of the 4th plane, who were committed to limiting the numbers of human casualties at the expense of their own lives. I weep with pride at the sacrifices made by the rescue workers who perished trying to save the life of another. I weep with pride for the many communities of volunteers across the nation and the world who are focusing upon providing resources to the rescue effort.

  I feel anger too, but I am more consumed with dread. I see and hear people clamouring for reprisal. People who are usually rational giving into their anger and fear and lashing out with hatred,lumping ALL Muslims, ALL Middle Easterners together. An eye for an eye, where does it end?

  In the city where I live there is a large international population, due to the local university. Young adults who attended class on Monday are fearful to return, because their classmates are now threatening them. American citizens had to close a private school and keep their children home from public school out of fear for their children's well being because they are of Middle Eastern descent. Respected doctors are deferring their patients to other doctors of non-Middle Eastern descent because of threats. In a city 45 minutes away, a Muslim center was the scene of a drive-by shooting. A friend in another city told me her employees are callig off or going home early because they are being taunted and threatened by their customers. In my city, a police vehicle sits in the driveway of the local mosque. On Wednesday evening, a man of Mexican descent was assaulted because the American terrorists mistook him for Middle Eastern. Where and when does this bigotry, stupidity and hatred end?

  I remember cradling my baby in my arms being numbed by the sight of the Oklahoma bombing. I remember sobbing as I watched scenes of broken children being pulled from the wreckage. Was America overwhelmed by people screaming for reprisal then? Did people cry out for the government to decimate all the militia groups and hate groups--men, women and children--who may have cheered or harboured, trained or supplied the perpetrators of that tragedy?

  Maybe it's because people in the Middle East are so different than so many in the West. Different culture, customs, religion, etc. It's easier to think of "them" and "they" versus "us" and "we". It's easier to say "they" all hate "us", no exceptions, and to paste on quaint slurs to dehumanize a whole group of people and allow a horrible concept such as genocide to become a viable alternative.

  It was mentioned that this board is for JW topics. There are numerous posters here who grew up in the WTS, they had no choice over their religious upbringing, they had choices of higher education taken away from them, they were taught to think in "us" vs. "them" terms and write off billions of people as worthy of destruction. One little piddly organization was able to do that to its followers in a democratic country. How much choice does a little child or an adult have in a Muslim country, where infractions are punishable by long imprisonment, torture or death?

  I don't know what the right answer is. I want someone held accountable for the terrible murders on Tuesday, but I don't know what price I am willing to pay, am I willing to have small children murdered?. I was relieved when I listened to government officials state that they would move slowly, to ensure that the right party(ies) were held accountable. It's a touchy situation, and I fear whatever the response is that America is entering a quagmire where there is no easy exit from. I do feel bombing the crap out of an entire country(ies) can't be the right answer. How would the murder of children make us any different from terrorists? "They started it" seems too schoolyard for me.

  Michelle

  PS. Just to ramble on, anger is all part of the healing process, just please be careful if/when expressing it in front of your kids--it is how racial prejudice is born.
• 

  Englishman

  America has to exact vengeance, not just justice but real vengeance.

  When you look at these fundamentalist countries, the people in them respect their leaders because they are cold and merciless. Anything else is seen as weakness. This is no time for piddly little pinpoint strikes. IMO the West should unite its forces in all countries via Nato, and when the perpetrating country is known, move in and OCCUPY that country. Once it is felt that sufficient reparations have been extracted, let the country revert back to a limited self government, say in about 30 years from now.

  Englishman.

  ..... fanaticism masquerading beneath a cloak of reasoned logic.
• 

  Amazing

  Thanks for many good points and comments everyone. I was down at the Daley Center in Chicago today where Mayor Daley and Gov. Ryan were for a prayer vigil. I have calmed some and will make some new postings later on. Thanks again. - Amazing
• 

  jurs

  I can't believe I'm writing this because its such a contrast to my thinking just a short time ago, but I hope we go to war and do what ever it takes to in the least send out a strong message that we will not stand back passively and allow terroist to get away with this unpunished. I also changed Tuesday. I have never felt predudice against any race or any country but unfortunately I hate to admit thats all changed. I aways use to feel that it was nice that foreigners would come here for a better way of life and I thought "more power to you," Well now I see it differently. The USA trained these men through flight lessons to do this horrific deed.
  I go to school with 5 Russians ladies and today I asked one if she liked living in the USA. She complained about some trivial things and I had to bite my tongue because I felt like telling her to go back to Russia then. I wouldn't have felt that way last week.

  Jurs
• 

  kilroy

  Abaddon

  What's this crap about stomping around in the blood of babies until I get enough of it?

  Do you think for one minute that there were no babies or little children on those airplanes? And how do you know for sure. I have never been on a plane where there were no babies or small children. So much for the innocent blood of babies.

  Kilroy
• 

  SixofNine

  And your point Kilroy?

  If "they" killed an American baby, be sure to include some of "their" babies in the "collateral damage"?
• 

  DannyBear

  Six,

  I don't know what going on with you lately. You seem to be mad at everyone. People are not agreeing with you, so, big deal. As you would say 'deal with it'.

  I like the old Six, who was pretty damn good, at inserting a line or two of humor, lately you have been in the attack mode.

  Danny
• 

  Pathofthorns

  I find Six's comments entirely reasonable. I also appreciate the frustration at seeing reasonable and nice people overcome by hate and the desire for revenge. I'm hoping the lapse of reason is only momentary.

  Path
• 

  SixofNine

  Yes Danny, I have been on edge. My daughter and her mom were in NY on Tues. I didn't get word till 4pm. It was one of the harder days of my life.

  That said, I just freakin' hate armchair quarterbacks who couldn't throw a ten yard completion if their life depended on it. I freakin' hate racist pigs. Testosterone charged boys pushing mid-life or autumn disgust me. I'm in shock at the armchair idiots blathering, spewing their worthless ideas of how to "solve" this problem. I'm in no mood to suffer fools. Or people whose ethics are entirely situational. The trade centers fall, 5000 people die, and the best thing these people can say is bomb some nation into a glass parking lot? Resort to calling people towel heads?

  I'm amazed at how many in this very forum ARE the problem-in-a-different-skin-color. What a joke that THE PROBLEM thinks IT should get to suggest solutions to itself.

  The funny thing is, I almost feel cheated in not having the chance to serve in the armed forces, I find myself full of, if not national pride, feelings of wanting to fight for freedom and democracy. I want revenge too. But I'll not sit by while people make light of "collateral damage". If one can't use those words with respect for what it really means, strike them from your armchair-general vocabulary. These cowboys weren't so brilliant as to come up with the words "collateral damage" in the first place, so I think they can talk about war w/o them.

  Path, I hope you're right. And I need to take a break, I know that.