What an awful day for the most recent protracted topic of this blog. I'm still shaking a bit from the proximity of it all; the bus explosion near Russell Square occurred in a block I've walked many times, one which Ilse and I visited twice during our trip to London last week.
The City has occupied my thoughts at some level for the entire day. I was panicked, badly, when I first heard the news, and settled a bit when all of my London friends had checked in safe within about an hour of my arrival at the office. A beloved friend of mine, and of many of yours, is visiting there now for an extended stay, and of course my good friend Doctor Death, now beloved of you all, lives there.
Those who would tell me that wondering why people plant bombs is the equivalent of offering terrorists therapy are not welcome on my planet. It is apparent to anyone with a brain and a heart that no one perpetrates this sort of organized aggression without some provocation. It is a fool who does not wonder how his actions cause or affect the actions of others. And actions like blowing up a thousand presumptively more-or-less innocent persons--one of whom could easily have been a good friend or more, given only slight variations in chaos--it seems obvious to me that it is one's duty to wonder what motivates that.
Which is not to say that I wouldn't shoot a terrorist, given a gun and a clean shot. I mean a real terrorist, one who detonated a bomb without blowing up himself/herself. I just can't honestly say that I wouldn't. I'm disturbed by that. But I can only seek comfort in knowing that elevates me above Karl Rove. I wish I could imagine that counts for something beyond soul food.
1 comment:
I would shoot a reall terrorist without that disturbed by it thing. Karl Rove wouldn't. He would tell somebody else to do his dirty work and then run and hide. That's part of what elevates me above Karl Rove.
But most of what elevates you and I and many others is that our motives are pure. We would kill a terrorist for the right reasons, to save lives, to preserve our country, and all that other hokey stuff. He would order somebody killed for political advantage. And that. Is just despicable
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