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From:  Karen Mercedes <dalila@R...>
Date:  Wed Sep 11, 2002  3:09 pm
Subject:  OFF: In Memoriam 9/11

Assailed as we are today by commemorations, reminiscences, memorials, etc.
of the 3,263 murdered by terrorist psychotics on September 11th of last
year, I have come to the conclusion that the most appropriate way to mark
this day is NOT by specifically commemorating those killed by Al Quaeda
terrorists a year ago today. Murder is murder, and sheer quantity of
simultaneous deaths should not be what determines whether and how we react
to the tragedy. Why do the victims of 9/11 deserve this massive
international commemoration any more than any of the individuals murdered
on a daily basis throughout the history of the human race? If we are going
to go about commemorating victims of fatal acts of intentional violence,
we should commemorate ALL of them. But who can honestly say he gives even
a passing thought to the hundreds - thousands - of murder victims that are
killed daily in the U.S.? Let alone devoting an entire day of
international mourning to them (not to mention all the build up to this
day, or, indeed, the continual stream of media reminders over the past
year).

I do not mean to say we should forget or trivialise or minimize our
remembrances and tributes to the victims of 9/11/01. What I am saying is
that we should ALSO grant equal consideration - memories, tributes, and
prayers - to the victims of ALL OTHER MURDERS throughout human history. To
do otherwise is, in a twisted way, to reward Al Quaeda for affecting us
in a way that other equally tragic acts of murder by other equally
reprehensible psychopaths do not.

Finally, I think we should all reflect on exactly why that is so. Why are
we so easily inured to the daily tragedies around us that it takes a
tragedy on the scale of 9/11/01 to finally "wake us up"? The shattering
impact of the murder of a single child or father or mother or friend on
his or her loved ones is no less powerful and enduring and excrutiating -
and no less worthy of memorialisation - than the equally shattering
impacts of the murders of the victims of 9/11.

Let us remember ALL victims of murder in our reflections and prayers
today, and every day. This is the ONLY appropriate way to remember 9/11,
IMO.

Karen Mercedes
http://www.radix.net/~dalila/index.html
________________________________
I want to know God's thoughts...
the rest are details.
- Albert Einstein






  Replies Name/Email Yahoo! ID Date  
20085 Re: OFF: In Memoriam 9/11Greypins@a... greypins Wed  9/11/2002  
20086 Re: OFF: In Memoriam 9/11Dean FH Macy   Wed  9/11/2002  
20088 Re: OFF: In Memoriam 9/11Greypins@a... greypins Wed  9/11/2002  

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