Skeeter, it's days like this that were the inspiration for "The Day the Earth Stood Still" -- the realization (or belief) by many that human kind cannot save itself from itself, and only by outside intervention will our species continue successfully.
Sometimes things are worst before the calm comes -- the death rattle of the old ways which are about to disappear. Remember the neo-Nazi's clamor in Germany shortly after the wall came down? Hopefully, today's horrific acts will eventually be recognized as a pivotal, positive turning point for our global civilization. I look at international trade barriers coming down, the EU, and many other signs that the world's cultures are coming together; and so it is not unexpected, from a historical perspective, that those groups that cannot change, those whose place in the world is disappearing forever, would lash out with destruction in an attempt to regain the sense of control they are losing.
Still, part of me looks at our beloved Ichiro for the Seattle Mariners -- a hero, a great guy, and loved by practically all in the city and many in the nation. He is Japanese, and the United States dropped two atomic bombs on his country when my father was 21 years old. Can we really have come this far that quicly or is it simply an illusion? |
