I write these words while in possibly one of the darkest, blackest moods I can remember. As we, a nation, stand in the ruins of an atrocity against us, I am further tortured by an inexplicable desire to see other segments of our society terrorized; to be specific, most network news organizations, PBS, and nearly every ‘thinking’ talking head that are occupying otherwise perfectly good electromagenetic emissions. This funk is due chiefly to what I see as in increasing effort to explain that there may have been some rational, plausible explanation, if not excuse, for a group of persons to hijack planeloads of innocent civilians, turning them into guided missiles with the sole purpose destroying perceived symbols of this Nation, killing untold thousands of others in the blind desire to avenge some perceived wrong in the name of God, Allah, or whatever philophical prop they use to hold their beliefs up.
As I read the paper this morning, I see articles dealing with Islam, as if true has Islam played any role in this. If it did, I spit on it. The article states that ‘Muslims around the world have a dislike for the U.S.’, then in the same breath, the writer states that ‘Muslims should not be universally condemned for the actions of a handful of fanatics.’ Great. So we are supposed love those who hate us. I freely admit I lack that ability right now. Radio reports from second guessers and comfortable intellectual types that perhaps we should not risk war with nations that are harboring terrorists, but ‘seek to understand them’. The usual pack of naysayers questioning our military’s ability to carry out the mission before them, or decrying the expense of actually using our military for some purpose other than being Meals On Wheels for the United Nations.
Taking all this in, I look around at my two children, 6 and 10. The chief question on my mind is ‘what will their world be like if this threat is not quashed?’ A lifetime of military presence on every street corner in the name of security; ID cards, badges, or chips to ‘certify’ that they fit the definition of ‘approved citizen’, whatever that definition may be. The truly ironic act of sacrificing civil liberties in the name of freedom. I look back as I have grown up this past 40 years at how carefree they were and how all these freedoms I took so for granted. Now I understand how my forefathers felt on the cusp of war, without knowledge of what the future might bring for myself or my children or their children.