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- Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Archives Revels Classifieds Real Estate Menu Guide Wedding Weather Subscribe Contact Us July 9, 2005 England joins world in terror, uncertainty We share the pain with all of England now. We’ve been there. So too has Spain, and many other places around the globe. Israel has more often than one can count. Much of the world is being united in a common, bloody, scary bond. When terrorism struck again in London on Thursday morning, England clearly felt as we once did, that our sense of comfort in the “normal” had been betrayed. One minute you’re riding on a subway train headed to work just as you have thousands of days before, the next the woman that was a few seats ahead of you is dead. Your life is ripped apart in fear. This unexpected, unfair and ultimately inhuman violence is a constant dark cloud in the world these days. We never live too far from it. Sooner or later, if this keeps up, it will change us. We will become more angry, hateful and even violent ourselves. Or we may become indifferent. “It’s the chance that makes us indifferent,” wrote Erich Maria Remarque in the classic “All Quiet on the Western Front.” War-ragged soldiers became indifferent about life and death in the face of bombs that dropped from the sky, randomly killing the good and the bad, the skilled warrior and the raw-faced rookie. The random chance of life and death was almost too much to bear. As terrorism continues seeping into all parts of the globe, that crippling random feeling of chance moves in with it, settling into our collective soul like a damp chill on a winter’s night. Unfortunately, the only reaction we hear from our leaders during this time is one of military bravado and declarations of victory. Perhaps our leaders think we are like front-line troops, enlisted into battle and trained to fight. But we are not. We are civilians. We don’t go off to war in the morning, we go off to work. We aren’t trained to kill, or even to defend. This is what makes terrorism so insidiously evil and at the same time so powerfully frightful. But perhaps what we fear the most is that our leaders, seeking more political standing and control, will use this tragedy as they have in the past to create fear and condone further violence. We fear leaders manipulating the world’s sentiment into a call for further bloodshed, violence and an ever -growing circle of destruction, especially if that violence is aimed not at those responsible, as was the case in Iraq. Al-Qaida proved Thursday that it is still capable of killing on a massive scale. We can’t help but wonder, why did we fail at capturing Osama bin Laden, but succeeded in toppling Sadaam Hussein? Why are we training our sights on countries like Iran and North Korea, while terrorists are allowed to move freely in our cities? London’s blasts, and the ones like it that will follow, all speak the same truth. We have fought a terrible war on terror, one that lacked wisdom in the first place and only continues to sow seeds of hatred and death among people of the world. Fear is not the answer, but unfortunately we seem to be led by those whose primary tool of motivation is to prey on fear and use it to heighten the violence around us. It is time to hold these leaders in account. They have failed. New leadership is needed, and it starts right here at home. DailyTidings.com Home Page Archives | Revels | Classifieds | Real Estate Guide | Weather | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2005 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Deep Muscle Stimulator Ceramic Piggy Banks FREE Entertainment Guide Women's & Men's Slippers Accelerate Weightloss Products Backpacks Online Pharmacy Vegas Travel Guide Search Engine Optimization Student Loans Hotel & Airline Reservations Hammocks Water Filter Helzberg Diamonds Online Casinos Community Bonus Casino Mortgage Calculator Security Systems Mailing Lists Click Here Advertisement .:Advertisements:. Site Search: RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams