A few people have asked me what my opinions are regarding the recent terrorist attacks and possible retaliation. So, here we go.
First, and probably most obvious, I'm horrified by the events that occurred, just as any reasonable being with a heart and soul would be. A tremendous waste of life that accomplished nothing. I can't speak for the rest of America, but I am not afraid. To quote John Karrys, "An individual isn't born afraid, he is conformed to be afraid. I choose not to conform." I will not let the actions of purely evil people dictate my life.
What do I think we, as a nation, should do?
I don't have an answer for that.
There are no easy answers here. We certainly can't just let this pass, or such things will continue to happen. There is no "ignore them, and they'll go away" in this case. I don't feel like violence is ever a good solution, but in this situation, I don't know what else could possibly work.
I worry that we will retaliate with war, thus killing innocents and making ourselves no better than those who've done this to us. Once we've done so, there will undoubtedly be more attacks against us, and we will respond to those as well. Hate begets hate, violence breeds violence. Eventually, the human species will completely eradicate itself, and we can only hope that we don't take out the rest of the known lifeforms with us. And God (or whatever) help anything that survives to do a better job with this world than we have.
Cynical?
Probably.
My faith in humanity was shaken by the tragedies, but shattered completely when I saw people responding by destroying mosques. It makes me wonder about those who's places of worship were burned and vandalized... who did they release their anger on? And those who received the wrath of these new victims, who did they attack? It's a neverending cycle.
As for myself, I refuse to give in to this mentality. Naive though it may be, I still hold out some hope that there are enough people who think the way that I do that one day, things like this would be unthinkable. That one day, our children (or grandchildren, or even great-great-great-grandchildren) will live in a world where there will be no use for violence... a world where the word no longer even exists.
