I am appalled at the carnage in New York, Washington and that field in Pennsylvania, and at the horror for families who will probably never have even a tiny portion of their loved ones to bury in sanctified ground. The firemen, the policemen, and the Red Cross workers are the sort of heroes very seldom seen. Mayor Guiliani, a flawed man, has nonetheless shown himself to be a shining example of leadership, compassion, and wisdom that we all would do well to emulate. And now, our soldiers are leaving home and family, facing deprivation and possible death in a desolate, far away place, in the hope of protecting Americans from future terrorist attacks..
I just wish (and pray) that we can find a way to resolve this without continuing to hurt people who have been hurting already all their lives -- the "common folk" of the Middle East. My thoughts are with our soldiers, and especially with our government. Unfortunately, more violence from the United States will only fuel the creation of another terrorist to take the place of Osama bin Laden. Look back at our history -- the Shah of Iran, Ferdinand Marcos, Augusto Pinochet, Manuel Noriega, Saddam Hussein -- all of whom built their armies with money from the US government. I don't understand why we -- a "Christian nation" -- continue to sell weapons to other countries, instead of spending the money and effort to support and educate them, until they can do it themselves.
I know this is so much easier said than done, and that just throwing money at the situation isn't going to solve it. But as long as we train and finance terrorists, then all our talk of a "war on terrorism" seems the worse kind of hypocrisy -- the kind that ruins uncounted lives.
I'm scared of what is happening in our country and in the world right now. It seems to be sadly ironic that we have just lost George Harrison, a gentle man who always worked to bring about reconciliation and calmness to those around him. The press is crediting him with keeping the Beatles together as long as they were. We need more people like him, and they are all too rare.
God *has* blessed America, with so much. I pray that we learn to share our blessings.