Terror in our hearts

Attacks on innocents make me sick.  Most are naturally appalled by it again and again and again. Terror attacks on the defenseless have been perpetrated in nearly every continent on earth by religious or political extremists (including right wing extremists.)  They make me ill and, worse, make me feel impotent to stop any of it.  Memories take me back to childhood when at 10 years old thoughts swam around my head that I was so lucky among millions around the world who did not share that luck that in this nation I could say anything, go anywhere and associate with whomever I wished without fear for my life or fear of arrest by powers that did not approve of my thoughts or my friends. 

It is crystal clear those days of historical good fortune, the geographical luck permitting our safety and the freedom from fear have fled. In all probability, within my lifetime those feelings of what it is like to be truly free and feel safe are forever gone.  No longer can one do the simplest act like shopping or movie going or riding a bike or even walking or window shopping without risk in the most benign settings.  It is abundantly clear that mantra swimming around in my head is now "if you see something say something" and I cannot stop that thought swimming in my mind like fish swimming in an aquarium as it keeps going round and round and round without end.   If you see something say something even if it is so seemingly non-threatening as an empty bag or a truck rental.  The reality that bag could explode and kill innocent hundreds is chilling. Our nation's civilians, too, are armed to the teeth even though most here do not have guns but the few that do have multiples of them and possess attachments to them that create a slaughter like Las Vegas.  Outrage of it goes silent.

It has been said more attacks have come in the west because ISIS is taking its last breath defeated in the Middle East in their capital Raqqa cities of Mosul and more.  I believe, though, ISIS is not defeated because it is an idea easily spread from one alienated human and religious fanatic to another and most especially on that ubiquitous invasion of all of our lives the Internet.  Moreover, ISIS is setting up camp now in Africa.  ISIS may be gone in their once stronghold Raqqa but the ideas of ISIS will never be gone and require constant vigilance and upgrades of those forces who want to prevent the poisonous ideas that injure often permanently and kill so many.  ISIS is an entity in and of itself and is a murderous belief for which most major religions do not advocate.

Our greatest challenge is to resist the indictment of all because of the perpetration of the few.  The fear I loathe along with all the innocent lives upended going for a bike ride in New York on a gorgeous fall day is that the murderer, Saipov, according to the NYT, came to the United States from Uzbekistan in 2010, and according to the Times had a green card that allowed permanent legal residence. That gives Trump and those who support his indictment and hatred of the many for the actions of a few ammunition for imposing his travel ban and other discriminatory acts so far restrained by the courts until Trump places in the courts extremist right judges who will sweep up those they do not politically like under the guise of keeping everyone safe.  If that becomes reality none of us will be free or safe --- ever; not here not abroad nor in our living room at home fearing the ubiquitous knock at the door questioning our patriotism. 

It should not be lost to our minds and surely will not be lost to history that ISIS would NOT have been born if it were not for the fracturing beyond recognition of the Middle East through the US  imprudent, illegal and certainly immoral invasion of Iraq, a war killing thousands in a country that did nothing to us.  All those innocent human beings killed by ISIS one can trace back originally to the civil war in Iraq because George Bush and his cohorts knew nothing of history and much less about the history of Iraq and certainly not of the Middle East as a whole.  ISIS was never in iraq until the US invaded it.  Millions have been slaughtered and millions of refugees are running for their lives as the sectarian divisions became exacerbated when the US shock and awe invaded Iraq ostensibly in retaliation for 9/11. Except the perpetrators of 9/11 were not from Iraq.  ISIS and those like it are the fruits of insane US military actions, poorly thought out, and ignorant of history.  Now we are  existentially threatened by a presidential know nothing mental danger who occupies the oval office in the White House with nukes!  Attacks on the west by ISIS give Trump cover for his murderous actions and ideas bathed in hate. Elections have consequences. The ignorance of Trump should strike terror in all of our hearts. 

RESIST -- your life depends upon it!