Think about it
The Newsday headline yesterday screamed “Bloody Tuesday.” And indeed so it was. On that day two bombs claimed at least 80 civilian lives in Iraq and Israel. And we are not at war. This is peacetime? You could have fooled me.
Consider the irony of the UN headquarters in Baghdad being the target of a bombing. The UN personnel are not in Iraq either as invaders or occupiers but as men and women whose main goal was to help the Iraq people overcome effects of the military conflict and to restore normal life. And yet they were considered a “soft” target in Iraq where the war is supposed to be over but where every day brings death. As UN Secretary General Kofi Annan expressed dismay and shock he described the bombing as an act of unprovoked and murderous violence against men and women who went to Iraq with one purpose only, to help the Iraqi people recover their independence and sovereignty. In Israel where suicide bombings are regular, Tuesday’s was still a shock and we ask ourselves what would have led another bomber to destroy buses in Israel in which children were among the passengers?
In an attempt to at least explain the Israeli-Palestinian conflict one commentator spoke of the nightmare in which Palestinians live, most unable to get medicines. Sixty percent of Palestinians, he stated, live below the poverty line. This, he said, spurs revenge from groups such as Hamas, the never ending jihads despite all the so-called road maps to peace. Will we ever find the road map to true peace in this world? Will world leaders ever truly understand that “might” is not “right” and that the use of brutal force almost always has a domino effect. You bomb me, I bomb you. President Bush, comfortable at his Texas ranch, could talk tough because he is safely miles away from the carnage. But what about those whose daily lives are marked by terror and death? In our own land we experience the effects of runaway crime and violence despite all the police plans known by so many names that are just that, names, labels. If a policeman stops you on the road today or comes to your home or business place, how can you be sure that the man is indeed a policeman and not a criminal in cop’s clothing? IT is a terrible state of affairs. IT is a terrible way for us to live where even we cannot be sure of those who are there to protect and serve us.
One wonders why it has taken the authorities all these years to stop taxis driving with sirens that imitate official ones. I cannot count the number of times I have pulled aside believing that an ambulance or fire engine was trying to get through the traffic, only to see a maxi-taxi fly by siren blaring, a grinning driver laughing at my stupidity. Peace pays dividends is an old saying but peace has never come easily. It has to grow out of the goodwill of all men who, despite their leaders, remember the ordinary people who are the ones that are made to suffer, who are called to make the ultimate sacrifice in the end. Tuesday’s bombings in Iraq and Israel were as senseless as they were brutal. The events of today’s world fill us with pessimism but we cannot afford to lose hope. Peace will come one day.
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"Think about it"