Musing

7C/45F, sunny, early morning chill; ducks scattered on the lagoon as Gusta approached – they look far too small to fly very far

today could be a day of reflection, grief & sadness

today could be a day of anger, revenge & poison thoughts

today could be a day of learning, understanding & openness

today could be a day of pain, anguish & never ending sorrow

today could be a day of deep meaning, reverence & tributes to heroes

today could be a day of reconciliation between the world we have & the one we wish we had

some grieve for friends, colleagues & heroes; others grieve for mom & dad, sister & brother, son or daughter

some grieve loss of someone

some grieve loss of an idea, an ideal or a sense of how things were once

some grieve loss of a magnificent symbol, others grieve loss of a magnificent building

some grieve loss of a time of peace & innocence

some grieve the loss of the loss of the loss of the loss . . of something

around the world an uncertain number of people see themselves as some element of the other side of this coin; they celebrate martyrs, they celebrate death & destruction, they celebrate the cost of lives, structures, economies & political systems

most days, especially this one, it is difficult to view that side with any objectivity, with any compassion for their grievances against the west, against the US, against anyone who does not see things their way

if we will have peace – ever – I think we need to understand those who hate on some important level; not the interpretations of the body politic as presented by Fox vis-à-vis CNN; not in pro/anti Muslim thoughts, not in terms of understanding hate, not in term of understanding lunacy, fanaticism or aggression

but in terms of understanding

5 yrs. in & a few trillion dollars lost, a few hundreds of billion dollars spent, many thousands dead, many thousands more spilled their blood there seems to be less understanding than ever

few who were touched by 9/11 will ever forget, few will forgive, few will move beyond the beliefs they held on 9/10; maybe one day it will be time for us to look a little deeper into ourselves if we are going to better understand what happened, ever move toward a safer world

I don’t believe the Bush mantra that this is solely an evil scourge we must rid the world of; I think it is an evil conflict of people & ideas we MUST rid the world of which is not to say we should do that by hunting down the people who hate a particular group & killing them, exterminating them

the risk of our world’s last war was not that long ago; we felt the breaking down of Soviet power & of a wall would make it all better, that we would be collectively safer

not so
it would be convenient to believe the forces for good are American, that the forces for evil are terrorist Muslims

that would be convenient illusion, but would it be real?

not so

today could be a day of the week; just a Monday like any other Monday

not so

today could be a day of the week; just a Monday like any other Monday; not this Monday, not any Monday

for so many, it can never be

Mark

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