Beirut, Baghdad & Boston
Did you really think you would get away with murder? This is the 21st century - none of us are invisible. Were you that arrogant and delusional? Apparently so, but your behavior baffles me. Why is causing mayhem and destruction preferable to creating your own version of happiness and sense of place in the world? I don't understand your "logic." And if this was some form of protest, did you honestly think the American people would take your method of protest seriously? You spent time, money and resources to assemble explosives that you knew would - at the very least - gravely injure people. That process obviously took a great deal of time. Are you telling me that not once during the assembly phase you didn't doubt the sanity of what you were planning to do and say to yourself or your equally misguided partner, "This is WRONG!"
Oh sure, I get it. Mom hugged you too much, or not enough. Dad wasn't there for you or was absent entirely. Or you were the middle child. Kids picked on you. You didn't have as much as your neighbors. You grew up in poverty. Your college application was denied. They had no right to fire you. Your girlfriend dumped you. It's the government's fault. No one ever gives you a break. You deserved a raise. If only, if only, if only.
Oh please. Get over it, and get over yourselves. We all have problems and challenges in every chapter of our lives, no exceptions. Some of these challenges are mountainous, and for many of us. Did you think you are any different? You were supposed to lick your wounds, brush yourself off and Move Forward, but make the best of your lives, not the worst of others'. Would that have been so hard?
There are more than 300 million of us (both foreign-born and born here) living within the most smiled-upon country on the planet. We have ample breathing room to remake ourselves again and again and again. If you emigrated here from anywhere else in the world to work or study, you were welcomed in. You two jackasses were no better or worse off than anyone else. What makes you so angry at the world that this seemed like a reasonable solution to improve your miserable existence? What grievances could you possibly have had that you believed would be improved by detonating a couple of homemade IED's, killing three and injuring nearly 200 others? And when the authorities catch or kill your lousy carcasses (which they most certainly have and will) what excuse du jour will you troll out for our universal scorn?
I could go on and on and on. Sandy Hook Elementary, a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, a Sikh Temple in suburban Milwaukee, Fort Hood, Virginia Tech, Columbine. All of these killing grounds (and many others) have their own tragic, violent stories. Each of them have their own murderers as well. These wretched fools each spewed "Woe is Me" tales that followed a common theme. And for some unfathomable reason murder was the only solution to their problems, both real and imagined.
Reasonable people can't understand that kind of desperation, much less any rationalization of the use of violence for its own sake. But regardless, there is a sickness upon the land. We have had bloodier periods during our history, where the rule of law was more of an abstraction than the reality it has been for over a century. So why the apparent spike in random killings over the last several decades? What new factors are in play in America and around the world?
Damn. Good. Question.
I don't know. I wish I did. Regardless, I believe too many of us are disaffected - both home and abroad, without a sense of belonging, without a sense of purpose, blinded by anger and petty jealousies, untethered from our families, with no close friendships to hold us fast to universally shared values and morals. For far too many people, Nothing to Lose have become words to live by.
But, whether any of this or none of this rings true - does this mean that we are on the road to becoming a Beirut or a Baghdad? Places where limb and life are risked every day merely by occupying a small space on a city sidewalk. I don't know. I hope not. But on one beautiful Patriot Day in Boston and for a few frightening days that followed, it certainly seemed like we all may be heading down that same road - a road with no turns.
Oh sure, I get it. Mom hugged you too much, or not enough. Dad wasn't there for you or was absent entirely. Or you were the middle child. Kids picked on you. You didn't have as much as your neighbors. You grew up in poverty. Your college application was denied. They had no right to fire you. Your girlfriend dumped you. It's the government's fault. No one ever gives you a break. You deserved a raise. If only, if only, if only.
Oh please. Get over it, and get over yourselves. We all have problems and challenges in every chapter of our lives, no exceptions. Some of these challenges are mountainous, and for many of us. Did you think you are any different? You were supposed to lick your wounds, brush yourself off and Move Forward, but make the best of your lives, not the worst of others'. Would that have been so hard?
There are more than 300 million of us (both foreign-born and born here) living within the most smiled-upon country on the planet. We have ample breathing room to remake ourselves again and again and again. If you emigrated here from anywhere else in the world to work or study, you were welcomed in. You two jackasses were no better or worse off than anyone else. What makes you so angry at the world that this seemed like a reasonable solution to improve your miserable existence? What grievances could you possibly have had that you believed would be improved by detonating a couple of homemade IED's, killing three and injuring nearly 200 others? And when the authorities catch or kill your lousy carcasses (which they most certainly have and will) what excuse du jour will you troll out for our universal scorn?
I could go on and on and on. Sandy Hook Elementary, a movie theatre in Aurora, Colorado, a Sikh Temple in suburban Milwaukee, Fort Hood, Virginia Tech, Columbine. All of these killing grounds (and many others) have their own tragic, violent stories. Each of them have their own murderers as well. These wretched fools each spewed "Woe is Me" tales that followed a common theme. And for some unfathomable reason murder was the only solution to their problems, both real and imagined.
Reasonable people can't understand that kind of desperation, much less any rationalization of the use of violence for its own sake. But regardless, there is a sickness upon the land. We have had bloodier periods during our history, where the rule of law was more of an abstraction than the reality it has been for over a century. So why the apparent spike in random killings over the last several decades? What new factors are in play in America and around the world?
Damn. Good. Question.
I don't know. I wish I did. Regardless, I believe too many of us are disaffected - both home and abroad, without a sense of belonging, without a sense of purpose, blinded by anger and petty jealousies, untethered from our families, with no close friendships to hold us fast to universally shared values and morals. For far too many people, Nothing to Lose have become words to live by.
But, whether any of this or none of this rings true - does this mean that we are on the road to becoming a Beirut or a Baghdad? Places where limb and life are risked every day merely by occupying a small space on a city sidewalk. I don't know. I hope not. But on one beautiful Patriot Day in Boston and for a few frightening days that followed, it certainly seemed like we all may be heading down that same road - a road with no turns.
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