(no subject)

Thousands...

We will find the person or persons responsible and deal with them, perhaps kill them. There will be those who will call this revenge, though revenge is a hollow sort of act as these thousands of souls will be unaffected by more deaths. There are those who will call it prevention, as a person/group/society that advocates this sort of destruction, and has the means to pull it off, has no place in the coming world.

They got our attention, unfortunately. They proved they had the ability to damage a military target, yet they attacked civilian targets as well, high in symbology as well as population. A weaker country would be damaged, a weaker government would be at risk, a weaker society would panic. Life in this country will go on; in some ways we will be better, in others we will be worse. The optimists will note the increased patriotism and individual acts of kindness. The cynics will use this act to support their goals, whether to increase the need for more conservatism in this country, or nitpick everything to underscore the need for less. The cynics on both sides will be ghouls (*).

International powers, as well as citizens, will show touching levels of concern, support, and assistance. International cynics will use this act to further their goals concerning America's role, or lack thereof, in the world. These cynics, on either side, will be ghouls (*).

This is one act, one group or person or country or society or organization, with a concern that may even be justified. Is this act justifiable?

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(*) ghoul -- a mythological creature who can only sustain their own existence by feeding on human corpses.

(no subject)

A few years ago, I stood underneath one of the Trade Center buildings. Unlike many other buildings in NYC, those buildings stood arrow-straight, no stepped architecture or wide foundational supports. I put my chin against the cool stone and stared directly up the side of a building 1/4 mile tall. It will be a long time before I can conceptually grasp that the buildings will never be there again.

The deaths themselves will always be difficult to grasp, that level of human destruction becomes fuzzy numbers. It is a numbness that may be instinctive, or, perhaps, a limitation of our intelligence to comprehend the lives and loves and day to day existence of each one of that many individuals.

(no subject)

Explosions in Kabul, Afghanistan, according to CNN (with some grainy webcam footage).

I dunno, no word from the US brass yet. Attack? America? Or an accident?

If it's us, I hope we know what we're doing. I'll follow my own advice and reserve judgement until more facts get out.