A Call For Peace...

Thu Sep 13 04:56:29 UTC 2001

No: HPFGUIDX 26047

(You may not agree with my views in this Op-Ed, you may even think I'm horrible for some of them.  But these are my opinions, un-edited and set out for you to dissect.  I would appreciate it, if that any part of this makes you so ANGRY you just have to respond, to take a moment, and please not yell at me)

A Call of Peace...

I do not call for revenge for what has happened. I do not call for retaliation or vengeance. I do not stand and let my voice be heard for bloody violence against a nation.

I call for peace. I call for intelligent response instead of brute strength. A tragic event has occurred and the whole world is effected by it. However, do we need to retaliate with violence that will destroy thousands of innocent souls?

The awnser is no. We have lost a great many to this terrorist attack. We are mourning their losses, and the loss of America's innocence. We are angered and outraged, and we are scared. It is understand able that out emotions and thoughts turn to destroying this so far unknown enemy. It is natural that we seek to kill those that would kill us. It is human nature to defend before we perish. Nevertheless, we have come a long way from our ancestors that hid in cave as struck out at anything that would destroy our precious hold on survival.

Our world's history is filled with bloody wars that destroyed civilizations. Our recent history are filled with wars that left horrible images imprinted on our memories. Do we need to see more images like these in the times to come?

I am a 20 year old woman who grew up with the images of bodies torn apart, men shot in mass killing's, women, still clutching their children, lying dead in the street. I have seen children, blown to tiny piece, just for crossing the street.

These are horrible pictures that are a part of my memory, mixed in with memories of birthday cakes and first school days. Horrible images that will stay with me until my last breath passes from my lips and my soul moves on.

I do not want to see anymore horrible images. I do not wish to watch children die needlessly, wives, mothers, clutching their children and husbands, watching our bombs fall upon them. I do not want to see innocent men cut down, for an act of one group. I do not want to watch my neighbors turn against each other. To watch innocent AMERICANS injured and even killed for a madman's act.

I do believe that those responsible, whomever they may be, should be brought to punishment. I am not saying that we should ignore this in it's entirety. I myself spent September 11th, stairing out at a cloudless sky, and wondering if one of my friends, one of the people I loved dearly, was lying under the rubble or lost in the chaos. I stared at the television like so many American's, fearing what else was to come, scared for my life and my family member's lives. 

However, violence against the innocent is not the awnser. There are many innocent, many more then those responsible. The countries suspected are filled with them; our country is filled with them. Several of those of Arab decent and nationality in our country have been either injured or threatened. Many schools, religious institutions, and Arab-American organizations have received bomb threats. Let us not forget that these people are Americans, the same as you and I. Let us not forget what the lessons of the past have taught us. These people are scared and hurting just as we are. Many have compared this attack to that of Pearl Harbor. Well let us remember that after Pearl Harbor one of the responses the US made was to put all American residents--citizens or not--of Japanese descent into internment camps. I dread the further backlash, which is likely to come against Moslem and/or Arabic people in the US. 

My heart goes out to all those lost in this tragedy. The victims and their families. In addition, my heart goes out to the families of those that were lost that were on the other side of this conflict. Every man has a mother and yesterday morning several mothers lost their children in tragedy that shouldn't have happened, weather they be Arabic, American or other. I watched my mother today, stairing at the news coverage and wondered what the mothers of the hijackers must be feeling. It is a horrible thing, to lose a child. But, to know your child died, doing something so horrible, and taking so many lives...it must have made their pain so much more terrible. My prayers go out to those women that stair at their television screens, or their newspapers, tears blearing their vision as they stair at images from a country so far away, where their sons or daughters died in a tragic act that they created. Let us mourn those victims we lost...but let us not in our anger, forget the other victims. We may not mourn those that caused this, but please, pray for their families, so that they may find the peace, and so that they may come to terms with what their family members have done.

Saitaina
*****
There were a surprising number of demons that glowed-in-the-dark. There were also a surprising number of demons named Bob. Xander didn't want to know why. -"Tiny Smiles", by Saber ShadowKitten, Buffy fanfic

"I kill mortals, I don't feed them," Death said with a hint of disgust. -"The Dark Cavalier", by Saber ShadowKitten, Buffy Fanfic

On a hellmouth, most of the time the demons killed the humans, demon hunters killed the demons, and a Collector stood around scratching his ass with his scythe. -"The Dark Cavalier", by Saber ShadowKitten, Buffy fanfiction

"Invisible, naked glowing people's opinions don't count," Xander mumbled, rounding the car to the passenger side. "Especially someone who is probably a figment of my concussed imagination." 
-Xander, "Cricket", by Saber ShadowKitten, Buffy Fanfiction
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Tabouli 
  To: HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com 
  Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 7:46 PM
  Subject: [HPforGrownups] Attacks in US

  Still in shock.  I've seen footage of those planes hitting the WTC from every possible angle over and over but my brain just won't take it in.  Like so many people said, it was like a movie set, a mini-New York built to scale and attacked on camera for a disaster movie.  These things just don't happen in countries like the US and Australia, we're removed, we're complacent, we comment on the horrors of the world from a safe distance, they don't come to us, we go to them with our camera crews and our commentators and our rescue teams and advice.

  I looked out my bedroom window yesterday morning after my radio alarm switched on and told me the news.  The streets were very still, and there was a smudge of grey smog along the horizon.  I grew up in the eighties and have been haunted by post-apocalyptic dreams all my life, and they all share that same silence.

  I'm very frightened.  I'm afraid for the human race, afraid that that there will be a war, afraid of the implications for air travel security, afraid of a monstrous backlash against Islam and anyone who looks even slightly Arabic.  I'm afraid that this may only be the first of a series of hideous attacks, and that something like this may happen again.  Beyond this my mind has stalled.

  I'm in Australia, miles and a time zones away, and all I can do is express my compassion and support for the American people, especially those in New York City and Washington, and those whose friends or relatives have been involved.  Take care.  I hope everything is OK.  My thoughts are with you.

  Tabouli.

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