Airplane Crashes, Bombings, Killings, Why?
The Crime of Terrorism
I write these words at 12 noon Eastern time on Tuesday September 11, 2001.
Terrorists have made attacks in New York City and Washington, DC. Many people have died as a result; no one yet knows how many. No one yet knows who is responsible for the attacks. No one yet knows whether more attacks will occur.
Terrorism is as bad a crime as there can be. At times of distress, a nation typically looks to its leaders. I am disappointed that George Bush remained silent for so long; hopefully that is the silence of careful thinking. Bush has the opportunity to lead us toward a better world with less terrorism, or into the pit of violence and destruction that terrorists wish for.
Let us ask how a human being could turn into a terrorist. Could it ever happen to you? Of course not. But somehow, a number of people became so warped, so misguided, that they gave up their own lives in order to take others' lives and wreak havoc among innocent children, women and men.
The world that produced those terrorists, that gave rise to them, is the world that we live in. It is our world. Somehow, under our very noses, our civilization is enabling people to transform into the devils of terrorism.
What is going wrong, and how can we fix it? This is what we need to work on. The only way to make sure that there are no more terrorist acts is to make sure that no more people turn into terrorists.
A person must feel awfully small, awfully restricted, ignored, unsafe, and unhappy, in order to consider terrorism as a plausible behavior. We -- you and I -- must work for a world where no one feels so small, so restricted, so ignored, so unsafe, so unhappy.
Let us pray for the souls of the dead and work for the souls of the living.
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Hanno T. Beck is the publisher of the Progress Report.
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