Damn terrorists.
I have one of those Groundhog Day style alarm clocks. You know, the one that you can set so the first thing you hear in the morning is NPR. I have this alarm clock for one reason, and for one reason only - so that if something like a terrorist bombing happens I will hear about it first thing in the morning.
All the same, I absolutely hate the fact that I had to jump out of bed yesterday morning feeling panic rising in my throat because the first words I heard as I awoke and stretched were "bombings in London this morning".
I literally leapt out of bed and ran to my computer to look up CNN.com. As I read, I was thinking that the word "terrorist" is extremely apt, for that is exactly the feeling that I felt starting to spread in my chest as I read the articles and saw pictures of the wounded being carried out. This is warfare like no other. It is a sneak in the night, an undercover attack, lacking any nobility or honor. It is a slap in the face of any civilized society, but with the slap comes no duel, no gauntlet being thrown. It is as if someone were to punch you in the face and then melt into the night. There is no way to defend yourself, no way to say, "Hey, hang on, can you at least let me bargain for my life, or try to save it?" What hurts me the most about the way that these people operate is that they literally prey on innocent people. How many children were on those subways? How many people were just going to work, or school? How many were just reading their morning papers, or listening to mp3 players, or chatting animatedly about how much they despised their boss? How much pain do these people have to mete out before they are brought to justice?
All of these are questions that I would wager were floating through thousands of minds yesterday. They are questions that I feel will never be answered, at least not satisfactorily. The biggest question that I have is, how can innocent people be held responsible for whatever it is that these terrorists are trying to achieve? If they are upset with our governments, which we elect, the populace is to some extent responsible - but not to the point of death. Yes, something smells rotten in the state of the Middle East, but the normal everyday people of our countries do not decide the policy and procedure of how our governments act. All we can do is elect our leaders and hope for the best. Blowing up innocent people is the most disgusting and peurile way of trying to get a point across that I have ever had the displeasure to witness. These terrorists have a cause they are fighting for, but it is a cause that will never be validated or acknowledged by the civlized people of this planet, for the ends do not justify the means. Innocent blood does not wash away. It leaves stains that cannot be cleansed, a mark that cannot be rubbed away.
