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It is depressing. First because their act is inhuman and a part of me wants to respond in kind but on a much larger scale. Second because I realize that responding in kind would just beget more violence. And yet nothing short of the full scale annihilation of one's enemies would seem to end this sordid matter. I'd like to think that I am more civil than my enemy, but I fear that I am not. Perhaps the reality is that I just have better weapons than my enemy but lack the resolve to use them, whereas my enemy would use them on me in a heartbeat if given the opportunity. I do not like to think such things. I've said it before, if I were the leader of the free world, I fear the world would be a smoldering ball of ash before the end of my first week. It's a good thing I am not.

Second because I realize that responding in kind would just beget more violence.

I don't think so --- when the Muslims began slaughtering the over 2 million Sudanese people, there was no responding in kind and they continued to slaughter. The world stood by and allowed them to have at it. The only way to contain this is to fight back hard --- to realize it's a life-and-death battle.

It is depressing. First because their act is inhuman and a part of me wants to respond in kind but on a much larger scale. Second because I realize that responding in kind would just beget more violence.

Those who initiate the use of violence are not morally equivalent to those who respond in self defense.