A co-worker sent me this:
"Attack on America" - a Personal Response
> by Sean Hastings
>
> My wife Jo, my dog Wasabi, and myself were all in New York City
> at the time of the attack on the World Trade Center. Thankfully we
> are all alive and unharmed.
>
> Although we were just a few miles from the site of the crashes,
> we were alerted to what was going on by a friend's phone call and
> turned on the news to watch. Safely insulated from it all by the
> magic of television, we saw the Twin Towers burn and collapse
> knowing that tens of thousands of people were probably still inside.
> Later, as we were able to get through on a somewhat overloaded
> telephone network, we called our friends and family around the world
> to assure them that we were safe, and we called our New York friends
> to make sure that they too were ok.
>
> Some friends I talked to personally witnessed the second jet
> strike the tower and saw people leaping to their deaths to escape
> the flames. One told me the story of a London office connected to
> its New York branch in the World Trade Center by a live video link.
> Their trapped co-workers told them that they were unable to leave
> the building, and that they knew they were all going to die, then
> the screen went blank at the same time as the TV news showed one of
> the towers collapse.
>
> Communications technology has brought this tragedy to all of us
> more closely than was ever before possible. An entire nation, and
> perhaps most of the world was able to watch these events unfold in
> real time. Feedback of reactions from around the world was also
> available in real time. Most people were shocked and horrified, but
> I also saw reports of people in some countries cheering and
> celebrating this attack on the US. My first reaction was very
> emotional - I found myself thinking "Bomb them back into the stone
> age" - and this shocked me. I consider myself to be an individualist
> to the core, but I now know that a blind loyalty to the group does
> exists somewhere deep inside me. At that moment, I would have been
> willing to unthinkingly follow anyone claiming to know how to justly
> avenge these acts, and prevent any more such in the future.
>
> Then I saw the start of the political rhetoric - various
> politicians declaring that this was a time for supporting our
> leaders, and not questioning or second-guessing their actions - law
> enforcement officials saying that this was precisely why they all
> needed greater powers over my life. Before the fires were even out -
> while people were still burning and being crushed to death under
> tons of rubble - there were already people trying to use my
> emotional reaction to increase their power over my life and further
> their careers.
>
> It was then that I realized that I was witnessing a very real
> threat to our nation and our way of life. Not from the kind of
> disturbed people who crash airplanes into buildings, but from people
> who would use such an event to further erode our freedoms - those
> masters of demagoguery who, while claiming to be the good guys, and
> in the name of defending our country, our freedom, and our way of
> life, will try to take away everything this country is supposed to
> be about. Even those with only the best of intentions may severely
> jeopardize our liberty at a time like this if they are not careful
> to give the freedom we tend to take for granted the highest priority
> in considering any course of action.
>
> So I know that a hoard of voices will now be crying out for your
> attention, trying to use this event to convince you that we should
> take whatever course of action most benefits their own position. I
> know that my voice is just a small one in this cacophony, and unless
> you agree with my message and forward it far and wide, I will
> scarcely be noticed. But I will speak my advice anyway, and hope it
> does some good. All I have to say to you is this:
>
> Do not let your natural reactions of fear or anger help ANYONE to
> further their short term political goals, or impose any "temporary"
> measures. These are frightening and enraging times indeed, but it is
> important to keep this simple truth firmly in mind: You cannot
> defend freedom by reducing freedom. The people who try to tell you
> otherwise are the ones who should frighten and anger you most.
>
> We all want security and justice, but we must to be careful about
> the price we are willing to pay. If we allow these tragic events to
> lead to a reduction of our freedom, then the bad guys win.
>
> --Sean Hastings
> --New York, Sept 12, 2001
> --mailto: [email protected]
>
> Please forward, summarize, quote, alter, or in any other way use this
> text, in whole or part, as you choose. It is placed into the public
> domain with no rights reserved or implied.
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