The following is not endorsed by the Air Force Office of Special Investigations. I’m just posting a likeness of the badge I carried for many years with that organization. Terror is something we in the military faced every day overseas during my tenure in the Air Force. Perhaps I’m being unfair to the rest of society, but we need to wake up! Terror has come to our shores and it’s only going to increase.
With all the nation’s attention being focused on the recent bombing in Boston, I’m being driven nearly mad by the near imbecilic blathering by the “Talking Heads” in trying to keep this news story relevant and wring out every drop of blood they can before the public grows exhausted by their inanity. The one question that pops up in every media discussion ad-nauseum is “Why?” The answer to that is too simple for simple minds to grasp, so it has to be made into a melodrama, instead of the one-word answer the question deserves. “Hate!”
Irritation doesn’t drive this type of violence. Disgust doesn’t drive this type of violence. One doesn’t decide to kill indiscriminately because they woke up on the wrong side of the bed, or the waiter burned their toast or the boss told an off-color joke at the office party and they’re offended. And certainly, there’s no way in hell that “love” drives this type of violence. Only black, dark, lingering, zealous or insane hatred, drives people to take weapons of any form and use them against souls with whom they have had no prior issues. This type of hatred doesn’t dissipate. It smolders. It isn’t satiated by an apology. It knows no bounds of decency or civility. It’s cruel, ignorant and has no place among people who seek to make a better world, or to improve the situations of those less fortunate. It is as evil as evil gets and it’s here in America just as certain as it is in Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan and a hundred or so other places around the globe.
This is why I decided it’s time to revisit my “Golden Age of Terror” blogs with another installment. Lives could have been saved and countless severely injured people might be walking unassisted today, if only one person had seen that which seemed wrong, and alerted those in the vicinity of the discarded back-packs containing the bombs.
I don’t suppose too many people recall the name Richard Jewell. He was the hapless security guard at the Atlanta Centennial Park who spotted an unattended bag in the crowd and began alerting those around it that it could be an explosive device. It was – in fact – an explosive device and it detonated, causing many injuries and at least one death. But how bad would it have been had this observant individual not begun the process of moving people away from the device? We cannot know for sure, but we can rightfully assume it would have been worse. Thank God for Richard Jewell.
For his actions, Jewell was suspected of actually planting the device in order to act the hero. The FBI was relentless in its misguided efforts to brand an innocent man a criminal because they had no other leads. Only after considerable time passed was it learned that the perpetrator was actually Eric Rudolph…yes, a “hater.”
One of the more severely injured people in Boston lost both his legs. From his hospital room, he informed investigators that he saw one of the bombing suspects put down his backpack and walk away. But, before waking away, the suspect looked the future victim in the eye. Sirens should have gone off. No one puts down a backpack in a crowd and walks away from it except an idiot or someone with ill-intent. We now know which one we’re dealing with here.
I’m sorry, intensely sorry for the victim who witnessed this act and did absolutely nothing to mitigate the potential damage this explosive device did to both he and those around him. He and his fellow survivors have long and painful recoveries ahead and I dare say – at risk of sounding callous and uncaring – he bears a modicum of responsibility for it.
I’ve harped about this until I’m blue in the face…er my fingers. “OBSERVATION” and “APPROPRIATE ACTIONS” are the keys to survival in this world-gone-mad! NO ONE leaves unattended packages or backpacks or duffel bags in crowded places, except idiots or those who wish you ill! If you see one, MOVE and get every one who will listen to you to move as well. If you end up looking foolish, so be it. You’ll be safe and those who listen to you will be safe, regardless of the outcome. If it doesn’t go bang, you can laugh about it later. If it does go bang and you did nothing, should you survive, I wouldn’t want to have to face your conscience or deal with your injuries.
No, he’s not responsible for his injuries, except to the extent that this is a dangerous world and whether we reach old age walking on two feet or being pushed in a wheelchair might actually rest on decisions we make at the spur of the moment. There are evil people with evil intent who will try to kill anonymous people and only “we” can make it more difficult for them. The police will spring into action after the event has unfolded. “WE” must spring into action as it is unfolding! Nuff said.
Haters don’t care who you are. They don’t care what you’re planning for dinner; who you intend to marry, when your child will be born or that you have nothing against them or their race, religion or country of origin. They hate you because you were fortunate enough to be born into a situation that they weren’t. You had freedoms they didn’t, either by virtue of the political system they were born into, or the constraints their parent’s faith or beliefs placed upon them from the moment of birth. They hate you because they aren’t you and that hatred won’t allow them to become what your are. So “you” have to die or at least you have to suffer for it.
Writers like to quote famous people when they encounter a line or a musing or pondering that strikes a chord with them. I’m no different. So I have a quote from the most famous of all beings:
“Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid!” God
Daniel C Chamberlain
