(no subject)

I woke up. I had kind-of determined that this was going to be the day I tried to get my marriage back on track. Dinner, talk, maybe even cuddling, maybe some explanations for why the connection was so far gone.

I'd say that just about everyone who's been directly hurt by the terrorists has been hurt worse than I. But once everyone else has had their revenge, I think I'm owed a single spit on their grave.

I tried to write about some of my own feelings and fears here: http://johnpalmer.livejournal.com/2387.html#cutid1.

What does it take for people to commit such brutal crimes? It takes a wall; you have to build a wall around yourself, so you stop thinking about the people who will be hurt. You have to think of them as meaningless, as less than human, as not being worthy of civilized treatment. "So what if they suffer and die? We're doing something really important!"

We're doing something "really important" in Iraq... tens of thousands of innocent lives cut short, and untold horror throughout the country, but, so what? We're doing something really important.

The United States faced a non-zero threat of total global annihilation, and never had to define torture nearly out of existence, operate "black sites", or declare that certain "special" people were not worthy of the baseline minimalist protections of the Geneva Conventions. But so what? We're doing something really important.

I'm sure someone would love to say that I'm claiming we're "just like the terrorists", and dismiss any criticism I bring, but I'm not saying anything like that. I'm saying we're moving in that direction, and that too many people are too willing to ignore the real suffering and death being caused by terrible decisions by the people running this country. Too many people are unwilling to sit up and demand answers - real, truthful answers - to questions about the war and about torture.

"We were attacked". Yes, We Were Attacked. By horrible people who didn't give a damn about other human beings, by people who thought that other people just didn't matter. Blank out their pain, don't think of the suffering; just get the job done.

And too many parts of the response has been tainted with a feeling that certain other people don't matter. Because we don't have to look at their pain, and don't have to think of their suffering, unless we dig for it.

It's time for us to start digging. Because hatred and indifference are what hurt us so badly, five years ago, and it's long past time for America to show that love and courage are a better, stronger, and more successful path to walk.

The love that demands that the battle be fought and won, to protect those we love; and the courage to do so in accordance with the values we love.

(no subject)

I woke up. I had kind-of determined that this was going to be the day I tried to get my marriage back on track. Dinner, talk, maybe even cuddling, maybe some explanations for why the connection was so far gone.

I'd say that just about everyone who's been directly hurt by the terrorists has been hurt worse than I. But once everyone else has had their revenge, I think I'm owed a single spit on their grave.

I tried to write about some of my own feelings and fears here: http://johnpalmer.livejournal.com/2387.html#cutid1.

What does it take for people to commit such brutal crimes? It takes a wall; you have to build a wall around yourself, so you stop thinking about the people who will be hurt. You have to think of them as meaningless, as less than human, as not being worthy of civilized treatment. "So what if they suffer and die? We're doing something really important!"

We're doing something "really important" in Iraq... tens of thousands of innocent lives cut short, and untold horror throughout the country, but, so what? We're doing something really important.

The United States faced a non-zero threat of total global annihilation, and never had to define torture nearly out of existence, operate "black sites", or declare that certain "special" people were not worthy of the baseline minimalist protections of the Geneva Conventions. But so what? We're doing something really important.

I'm sure someone would love to say that I'm claiming we're "just like the terrorists", and dismiss any criticism I bring, but I'm not saying anything like that. I'm saying we're moving in that direction, and that too many people are too willing to ignore the real suffering and death being caused by terrible decisions by the people running this country. Too many people are unwilling to sit up and demand answers - real, truthful answers - to questions about the war and about torture.

"We were attacked". Yes, We Were Attacked. By horrible people who didn't give a damn about other human beings, by people who thought that other people just didn't matter. Blank out their pain, don't think of the suffering; just get the job done.

And too many parts of the response has been tainted with a feeling that certain other people don't matter. Because we don't have to look at their pain, and don't have to think of their suffering, unless we dig for it.

It's time for us to start digging. Because hatred and indifference are what hurt us so badly, five years ago, and it's long past time for America to show that love and courage are a better, stronger, and more successful path to walk.

The love that demands that the battle be fought and won, to protect those we love; and the courage to do so in accordance with the values we love.