While we might smile at the karmic justice of this, while we might smile at the thought that here are twenty-two horrors that will not happen, while we might smile at the thought that this trainer is out of business and there will be other young men who will not be used for terror, while we might experience enormous schadenfreude at hearing this story .... Twenty-two men died. Their families have lost their sons and brothers. The died for hatred and terror and fear of the enemy. They died. As hard as it is to feel grief for those who would have killed innocents, as difficult as it is to empathize -- they died. Their lives are over. All possibilities of growth and redemption and healing is over for these young men. All possibilities of all kinds, good and bad, are over for these young men. And for what? While we might smile at each other and say that this is the best possible outcome for these would-be killers, it is not. It is not even the second-best outcome. The best possible outcome would have been that each of these young men would have realized the cost of hatred and renounced it. While we might high-five and celebrate the deaths of would-be terrorists, when we do this, we become no better in our hearts, because as much as they would celebrate our deaths, we are now celebrating theirs. In that simple bit of emotional polarity, that makes us no different and no better. No, we do not strap bombs to our chests and blow up buses -- but others, acting in our names, in the name of the people who put them in office, are sending drones to drop death from the sky -- our own kind of industrialized terrorism. Yeah, I can understand the military justifications for taking out terrorists -- but wreaking death on each other ... at what point do we try something else instead? At what point do we stop hating? At what point do we stop diminishing the humanity of others? At what point do we recognize that it is cheaper to reach out an open hand than a closed fist? When do we start acting like the good guys? Do good guys really cheer this? I dont think so. Your mileage may vary. But I see this as an incredibly sad event -- because of what it says about how far we still have to go before we can call ourselves a civilized species.
Posted on: Fri, 30 May 2014 05:45:33 +0000