In my oh-so-humble opinion, we all stumbled badly in our response to 9-11.
Yes, if we want to avoid more terrorist attacks, we should go to the Library of Congress and burn the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and a bunch of other documents that define our country. Then we should cower in our basements for the rest of our natural lives, and hand all of our civil liberties over to the FBI.
But if we want to know whether that's a wise response, we need look no further than the name of the enemy that we're fighting: terrorists. Not bombists or plane-crashists, or any other word that means "people who attack". No, they're "people who make us fear". And when we give into that fear, we're not just letting them win, we're helping them win. When we're too afraid to allow our neighbors to enjoy their lives, when we're too afraid to allow people to carry common tools like pocketknives, when we're too afraid to allow people who look different, or talk different, or worship different, to enjoy the same freedoms that our Constitution promises to all -- then we've not only given in to the terrorists, but we're doing their work for them.
I used to get bullied a lot when I was in grade school, until I learned that responding to a bully by cringing and cowering just meant that you cringed and cowered your way through life. Looking them in the eye and telling them that they can smack you, but they'll still be an ass**** and you'll still be right may get you a black eye, but that eye will be attached to a head that you can hold up high.
Tim, Right On! Forgive me if I wander Off Topic and reminisce...
When I was 8, my family moved from a town of 20,000 people - half of whom seemed to be family or friends - to a village of 84 people. Where there was literally nothing to do until a year later, when I discovered balsa model airplane kits. In the meantime, I discovered books - and I mean the classics.
60+ years later, I still remember the impact reading a poem had on me. Seems a traveler passes by a cemetery, sees a funeral in progress, and wonders how the man died. Then, on further thought, wonders how the man lived - and which was most important.
I too was picked on a lot - I was about half the size of anyone else my age, had done 2 grades in one year to make it worse, and won’t even go into other factors ... Well, thinking about that poem changed my life. I decided that even death would be preferable to cowering and running.
The next year, we moved to another town of 20,000, where I instantly made dozens of friends. Shortly after school started there, the school bully waylaid one of them and beat him up pretty good - even though the 2 of them were about the same size.
Well, I waited for the opportunity to address the bully in front of the school when there were lots of other kids around, then confronted him and told him if he ever laid a hand on my friend again, I’d ... well, you fill in the blanks. He looked down at me, laughed, and told me he’d ... fill in the blanks again.
Whereupon I replied, “Then do it here and now - you don’t have to hide and wait for me in the alley”.
He was scared to death of me from that point on. Two years later, we played on the same football team. I was the 77 lb quarterback and captain; he was a 160+ lb lineman who literally answered “Yes Sir!” every time I screamed at him to shape up.
Flash forward many years: I had the opportunity to manage an interpreting business with the Somali (read: Muslim) refugee community in Minneapolis. It was a great experience: I made a lot of friends, and especially enjoyed conversations with a young Somali man who spent quite a bit of time in our office.
We got to the point where we were able to discuss literally anything quite openly. But the most surprising revelation came the day we discussed the “Black Hawk Down” American experience in Somalia. At one point Said became livid, pounded his fist on a desk several times, and shouted ”Dennis! You have to understand! Unless you are willing to DIE for what you say you believe in, you will have no respect in the Muslim world! None!”
Please keep that in mind when reading the words of, or dealing with, those who think we can “negotiate” peace with those who would kill us.
STRENGTH assures peace!
Topic: Disturbing editorial! (Read 6200 times)