Tangle writes:
I fail to see what could be more extreme that attacking a major western city and putting all of Europe on high alert.
I agree... but only in my context
Which I think is causing a lot of communication problems.
The problem was not extreme in the sense of how many people died. This is trivially true.
The problem was certainly extreme in the sense of how our illusion of safety was attacked and destroyed.
These two things seem to be getting mixed up and cross-talked and it's causing a lack of focus.
People are rightfully and understandably shaken and upset by having our safety threatened and torn away.
But we have to be careful to focus on that issue. Or else we'll end up spending our efforts on other problems that are less harmful. Such a waste of time will only lead to more problems threatening our safety.
Bringing up deaths and the pain and suffering involved is part of what happened.
But the deaths and physical pain/suffering involved, although horrible in it's own right, is not very extreme on the scale of such subjects. In fact, it's kind of on the lower end of the scale.
The more we dwell on the deaths and physical pain/suffering... the less we dwell on the actual issue at hand that needs correcting.
We should be honest about being scared and angry that the safety we thought we were free to enjoy everyday is not quite what we thought it was.
Understanding that this is the real issue will help us focus on the right solutions.
We deserve to have such safety.
Not "we" as in "Major Western Cities"... but "we" as in "people"... everyone.
Most of what I'm referring to is about solving the problems on our home ground by education and reform.
Seems like a great place to focus efforts to me.