Release of tension

[firecat]

I'm amazed at the human resilience to disaster. By yesterday evening,
most people had decided Not To Think About It. Today my body seems to
have decided that, too. I woke up happy, feeling normal, feeling like
making jokes about it, etc.

Then I got on the net and got all angry again. I was mostly angry at
people's attempts to oversimplify things -- find some single reason for
what happened, make it all fit neatly into their existing political
viewpoints and bolster their pet interests. I am angry at this because I
hoped that a tragedy of a kind that has never happened before would get
people to look at the world differently, including parts of it that they
had written off before. Only if people look at the world and its
inhabitants differently will we be able to change how we relate to each
other. This has been an opportunity for change. But there is a
tremendous urge on everybody's part to get back to "normal," and that
includes all the normal prejudices, all the normal factions, and so
forth.

And that's all part of the resilience to disaster, too.

And in other non-news

The dog I worked with yesterday was a King Spaniel / Pekingese cross.
Extremely excitable, full of kisses, willing to take on any other dog. I
did OK at getting her to calm down, which was the lesson for the day. I
didn't think about the disaster for a whole hour, which was a good
thing.

Dropped by my parents'. On the way there, I was listening to NPR and
they said that some European leader had said, in response to the attack,
"We are all Americans." It made me cry.

Comments

Change

[limestone.livejournal.com]

Hello,

I've just stumbled on your journal and I am completely astonished by the clarity, compassion, and courage that you express. It is stunning to discover that someone in this black and white world can see a little color. Can see it and can think about it. And I've noticed that you have some interesting and beautiful friends, too.

And I like the way you have been able to cautiously observe and comment on the intense and sublime emotions that surround and seep into us as we recover from the shock. The discussion of Humaneness, alone was uplifting, in the sense that at least someone is able to TALK about the confusion and the conflict we all feel about humanity, or nature, or, to some, god.

And you bring up one point that for me is most significant. How will humanity react spiritually to this mess? In other words, how will we "grow" from it. I put "grow" in quotes because I feel there is an equal, if not greater, chance that we may regress spiritually. That the divisions between the races, the classes, and the religions will increase, not shrink.

Yet, the optimistic part of me can imagine, that maybe, just for a moment, Americans will recognize something in themselves that they've never known before. That their ability to overcome this monstrosity will not be a material or physical accomplishment, but a congnitive accomplishment. Because, for the first time in history we must learn to lead humanity away from its' reliance on violence as a solution. Perhaps we will understand that diplomacy and mediation, tempered with a strong and swift correction for those who attack or threaten to attack, will be the solution. That is to say, taking in to account that we were forwarned of the Lockerbie attack, the invasion of Kuwait, the bombings in Africa, that we can no longer disregard those threats. And that escalation to a military response without first applying our best diplomatic and intelligence efforts is our greatest misjudgement.

Listen first, then shoot. It's a concept modern police have learned to adopt to resolve tense situations, i.e. barricade, and hostage, situations.

On the other hand, that's a lot to expect, I suppose.

Re: Change

[firecat]

Hey October,

Thank you for the very kind words. They mean a lot to me.

I hope that you're right in hoping.

As far as I can tell, the U.S. hasn't shot anybody yet, which is a good thing, I think.