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People unrecognizable as human do, or cause to happen, damage no gain can justify. Faced with this reality in many areas (from recent monetary greed to wars), still I act surprised at the next hideous example that becomes known. The wail, 'how could this happen?' or the vow, 'this shall never happen again!' is heard so much that it is sounding like a cliché.
If there was a way to explain to us actual humans how such events occur, how they are allowed viability in this world, we still wouldn't understand. I've tried to cope with knowledge of unimaginable horror that showed up right on some human's doorstep, if not my own, by either trying to understand the event in excruciating detail or by viewing it as an act by forces against which I am as effective as a gnat.
Neither way is satisfying. I am plagued with WWII images, probably because I was born into that era and all I knew was what I heard the adults whispering in private. I remember my 3-year-old thought: 'Why was I so lucky as to have been born here rather than there?' To exorcize these haints I wrote a novel set in the years 1938-1939, the plot and theme of which was built around--not what was done--but on Social Conscience. 'What would I have done--or should hope I'd have done--had I been there?' Also, how might I recognize this sort of monstrous event as it began to form?
The other way of dealing, basically ignoring and hoping the great IS won't, is much easier, depending.
I have discovered (as much as one can be sure by imagining) that I don't know how I'd react. In fact there is a lot I don't know. This is a pill I've had to swallow even though it has taken me decades, and it seems a cop-out to me. But what choice do I have since I do not run this earthly boot camp. Maybe this world isn't meant to ever be right. Maybe it’s an exercise field and the merry-go-round will never be spun enough times, the weights will always need to be lifted again, and the racetrack will never have a stop sign at the end. However I do think it matters immeasurably how we play our part.
I'm hoping for an eventual honorable discharge from this place, whatever the hell it really is.
posted by
OutaBreath
on December 17, 2009 at 11:47 AM
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My brother-in-law is dead because of that bullshit! sam
posted by
sam444
on December 15, 2009 at 4:05 AM
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