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September
11th and the Problem of Evil
What darkness in the human mind could conceive of such unspeakable
evil as the destruction of Manhattan's glittering twin towers, occupied
by ordinary people whose only crime was to show up for work in the
morning?
The recent attack on our nation is reminiscent not only of a 1993
bombing of the same structures, but of certain writings by a member
of the so-called "Trenchcoat Mafia" - a couple of punks in Littleton,
Colorado who two years ago decided they wanted to kill most of their
classmates and hijack a 747 full of passengers and crash the plane
into the World Trade Center in New York. Their goal was a "body count"
in the thousands. With the weapons available to them, they succeeded
in amassing a body count of 15. But the dream of these tormented children
was realized this week by the actions of fanatical foreigners.
What differences and similarities exist between the teenagers who
fantasized in a diary about crashing a 747 into the towers, but failed
not for lack of serious intent but only because of limited abilities
and resources, and adults who carried out the twisted fantasy?
By no means do
I suggest a connection between the assault on Columbine High School
by two of its own and the destruction of the World Trade Center by
foreigners. But I cannot keep from sadly wondering at the similarity
of intent. Such a grievous destruction of innocent civilians surely
qualifies for the term "crime against humanity."
At the present
writing, it feels as though we are being catapulted into a war of
tremendous proportion, which I fear will solve and accomplish nothing.
Some say that we are already engaged, but until we strike back, I
must differ. A path is not chosen until it is acted upon.
As we often attempt to teach children, it takes (at least) two to
fight. And as Mandela, Ghandi, Mohammed, Jesus, and Buddha have each
taught, there are many ways to oppose evil.
At a conference this week in Liberty, New York, a speaker told of
a man who was with his young child watching the TV news. Feeling torn
about whether he should censor what his son was allowed to watch,
the father asked the boy, "What do you see?" The boy replied that
he saw buildings falling and a lot of people being killed. Crowds
of people ran from the buildings, he said. "But the firefighters and
the police ran toward the buildings," the boy reportedly observed.
The speaker had tears in his eyes as he told this story, as did much
of the audience. These civil servants understood the value of sacrifice,
and the way they did (and others are still doing) their duty is the
epitome of valor.
We all respect and admire the tremendous courage of those who volunteer
to put their lives on the line in defense of life and liberty. This
goes for soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines as much as it does
for the firemen and police of the City of New York. If our country
goes to war, I will support the troops in every way that I can, by
donation of time and other resources. I am filled with sadness for
those who died in the recent attacks, for their families, friends,
and loved ones.
Yet, I cannot agree with those who call for war.
No matter how one tries, it is a hard thing to face up to unmitigated
evil. Flying into those buildings was evil. I don't know the solution
to evil in the world. But to think that a likely world war will stop
future acts of terror on our soil, perhaps of the same or even a grander
scale, is naive folly and ignores the lessons of history.
But goodness, such as we saw and continue to see among the workers
at "ground zero", by itself gives reason for hope and continued struggle
against humanity's dark side.
Tom
Rue
September 15, 2001
All Through The Night
Source
of lyrics to background music
News Cable
News Network
The
Jerusalem Post
Al
Jazerra
The
New York Times
The
Washington Post
Yahoo!
News
Helping American
Red Cross in Greater New York
Helping.org:
An American Tragedy
The
Salvation Army
United
Way of New York City
Government
The
City of New York
GlobalSecurity.org
The
White House
World
Trade Centers Association
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