Posted on 09/15/2001 7:43:17 AM PDT by Pharmer
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THE TASK will be most difficult for the loved ones of the 266 people on the four airliners that were crashed as part of an attack by unknown terrorists, and those unknown thousands of others who perished on the ground. It is they who must find a way to continue without a lover’s caress, a parent’s advice, a friend’s laughter, a sister or brother whose interest was unwavering. Theirs is the loss that is most intimate, and it is they who will miss the tangible reality of those who have perished. They suddenly find themselves in a club they never knew existed and would not have wanted to join if they had — the fraternity of those who experience the overwhelming grief of losing someone you love. IF ONLY... |
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| We wait and hope for answers, clarity, leadership. We may never find answers or clarity. What we can do is demand leadership. |
It is impossible for the bereaved not to examine ways in which their grief might have been avoided. What if the coffee shop had sent another deliveryman with muffins and bagels for those who worked in the World Trade Center? What if that compulsively punctual secretary had been late for work, if the broker had met with clients outside the office, if that firefighter or cop chose to sleep in that day. If only they had missed the plane, gone the day before, not gone at all. If only they had not lived the lives they did, we wonder, would these lost people still be here now? Yet this unavoidable, seductive game of “what if” cannot change what is. Beloved people who lived their lives — as they desired or as was required — are forever gone. The task is far less painful for those of us who do not know anyone who perished. Yet the very public and political nature of their deaths makes us all mourners and victims. As a nation, we must come to terms with how to respond and go on. VULNERABILITY AND VENGEANCE The cries for revenge and the vows of retribution began soon after the attacks, as politicians, pundits, and various experts flooded media outlets. As the afternoon of the attack progressed, declarations of grief and outrage were too often quickly followed by vows of vengeance. No one knew who would have to pay for this crime or how much, but still we were assured that someone would, as if an eye for an eye really works, as if retaliation will bring back either loved ones lost or America’s violated sense of invulnerability. |
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 A.acollink { font-size: 10px/11px; font-family:arial; TEXT-DECORATION:NONE; } A.acollink:hover { color: cc0000 } a.yblnk {text-decoration:none;color:000000;font-family:arial;font-size:13px;} a:visited.yblnk {color:3366cc;} a:active.yblnk {color:000099;} a:hover.yblnk {color:cc0000;} .ybText,a.yblnk {font-family:arial;font-size:13px;} .ybBulRed {color:cc0000;font-family:verdana;font-size:14px;vertical-align:top;width:10px;} Tuesday’s events place Americans, for the first time, in a position of vulnerability that citizens of other, less advantaged nations know all too well. Before then, we could not feel as intensely as we do today the everyday pain, suffering — and yes, terror — that is the fate of hundreds of thousands of innocent people who do not speak the same language or worship the same God or believe as do.We are, most of us, still in shock. We wait and hope for answers, clarity, leadership. We may never find answers or clarity. What we can do is demand leadership. Not the leadership of politicians angling for pet projects like missile defense shields or casting about for somewhere to lay the blame and someone to wage war upon. We certainly don’t need the leadership of America’s corporations and Oiltocracy, the defense contractors who stand to profit from military activity or the independent profiteers who capitalizing on our fears by gouging gas prices. It’s up to the American people to take the high road and demand that our leaders join us. Revenge will not resolve the magnitude of this tragedy. Nothing does. We owe the dead and those who mourn them the tribute of our true, loving, compassionate selves, not the violent and vengeful other. Jill Nelson is an author, teacher and regular contributor to MSNBC.com. |
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What is a "Moderate Traitor"?
I had in mind to start calling your crew of dickheads 'traitors' instead of simpering seditious apologists for terrorists.
But since your crew of off brand busta's carry empty sacks, lack spines and are incapable of any action (including thought) save typing out the instructions of your masters, I could not call you traitors, as that would insult true traitors.
I decided to call your wack crew 'moderate traitors'.
As I told your fellow traveler ZaDomSpremni, re-read my posts before you waste bandwidth, and, uh, ask doctor to increase your dosage because,
The islamic nations must go the way of Troy, Carthage, and Azteca.
Know this, he is a disrupter and a coward.
It works. And massive, overwhelming retaliation works even better!
as if retaliation will bring back either loved ones lost or America’s violated sense of invulnerability.
It might well bring back the reality of invulnerability. As for bringing back loved ones, it may give the souls of the deceased some comfort to see their murderers fed to the hogs. With the rest of the slop.
Revenge will not resolve the magnitude of this tragedy.
Oh, but it will, it will! Trust me!
Nothing does. We owe the dead and those who mourn them the tribute of our true, loving, compassionate selves, not the violent and vengeful other.
Hmmm...I think I'll go for the violent and vengeful other!
But revenge could help make certain swampfox98 lives to a ripe old age, along with millions of other Americans. Do you think this stupid woman could understand that statement. I doubt it.
Revenge may not bring the dead back to life, but it will bring the rest of us back to life.
"When the people fear government, that is tyranny. When the government fears the people, that is liberty." - Thomas Jefferson
May no government hold us in permanent fear ever.
Regards.
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