Well said, Andy. That was a night - for me - so unbelievable and distressing that I was just stunned. I knew the US wouldn't take this and turn the other cheek.
We can't see the future. The terrorists more than anybody. And now we live in a world where religious wars continue on, grimly supported by the fundamentalists from both sides seizing on the worst excesses of the other to justify yet more atrocities.
Just like the past. We can't see that either, not clearly enough to avoid repeating it.
I wonder - futilely, I know - where another decade will take us. I'm getting to the age where I'm starting to lose contemporaries as a matter of course, rather than accident. I might not be around in ten years, and I know for sure that many of my friends and family won't make it.
But that doesn't bother me as much as it used to. It's just the way life is, and I can get all bent out of shape over it, or I can accept it and know that I must enjoy life as it happens, because one day all those endless years ahead of me won't be there. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe today.
So I enjoy every moment I can.
And the best parts are other people. My favorite people aren't the warriors or the popular leaders stirring up the people into a frenzy. It's the firefighters and the medics and the nurses who hold out their plate for the world to dump stuff on it. And ask for more.
It's the people who hold out their arms to give comfort to strangers, not thrust them away.
People like MaryZee.
I'm not a religious person, but if I'm headed for the same place she's gone, it can't be too bad.
Until, I'll try to enjoy the sunny days - and the grey ones - and to smile as much as I can, and to work on being more like the people I admire most.
Thanks for the thoughtful words, Andy. Now, go and give someone a hug, will ya?
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rosecarmine
(no subject)
Date: 2012-09-11 05:34 pm (UTC)We can't see the future. The terrorists more than anybody. And now we live in a world where religious wars continue on, grimly supported by the fundamentalists from both sides seizing on the worst excesses of the other to justify yet more atrocities.
Just like the past. We can't see that either, not clearly enough to avoid repeating it.
I wonder - futilely, I know - where another decade will take us. I'm getting to the age where I'm starting to lose contemporaries as a matter of course, rather than accident. I might not be around in ten years, and I know for sure that many of my friends and family won't make it.
But that doesn't bother me as much as it used to. It's just the way life is, and I can get all bent out of shape over it, or I can accept it and know that I must enjoy life as it happens, because one day all those endless years ahead of me won't be there. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe today.
So I enjoy every moment I can.
And the best parts are other people. My favorite people aren't the warriors or the popular leaders stirring up the people into a frenzy. It's the firefighters and the medics and the nurses who hold out their plate for the world to dump stuff on it. And ask for more.
It's the people who hold out their arms to give comfort to strangers, not thrust them away.
People like MaryZee.
I'm not a religious person, but if I'm headed for the same place she's gone, it can't be too bad.
Until, I'll try to enjoy the sunny days - and the grey ones - and to smile as much as I can, and to work on being more like the people I admire most.
Thanks for the thoughtful words, Andy. Now, go and give someone a hug, will ya?