Just a short one from me. I have a full fall day of raking leaves, drinking too much coffee, and scrubbing the floors (yes, I really am that fastidious). I wanted to point out one thing though, which has been on my mind.
Today is the one year anniversary of the Bali bombings. A disgusting horror for which the victims' only crime was that they wanted to go to a beautiful island nation and get away. Relax, surf, enjoy a tropical paradise.
I have been to Bali, and I can tell you that the island was so friendly, beautiful, and calm. The parity between the haves and the have-nots is enormous, but there is no ill will there. It is a nation that can see harmony in many different ethnicities and religions. So when the tragedy happened one year, one month and one day after September 11, it ruined thousands of lives forever. I wonder if this year a tragedy will come on November 13 (there's my Oliver Stone thinking for you). For the sake of our peace of minds and our lives, I sincerely hope not.
202 souls from 22 nations were given up that day. Although the loss of the WTC was greater in terms of casualty victims, and perhaps greater in terms of horror, the fact that another tragic abomination of a terrorist attack happened should help us remember-there are mothers suffering the loss of their sons. Sisters, who will never come home again. Lovers forced to move on after the loss of one of the pair. Fathers, no longer around to maintain the households.
202 deaths. Most of them tourists, only trying to laugh, relax, and enjoy their lives.
Lest we forget.
-H.
Posted by Everydaystranger at October 12, 2003 09:45 AM | TrackBackTim Blair had a thing - let me see if I can find it, where you could buy Jake Ryan and his team beer. It raised over a thousand dollars - shocked the guy.
Yup - here.
hln
Posted by: hln at October 13, 2003 04:47 PMMy God, that article brought chills to my spine. Thanks Hln. Incredible and horrific at the same time.
Posted by: H at October 13, 2003 10:57 AMThis is nice. Did you happen to read Jake Ryan's words in one of the Aussie newspapers? If not, here it is.
hln
Posted by: hln at October 12, 2003 09:32 PMSadly the terrorist are looking to kill where ever they can which usually means places you would not consider targets. I just dont understand us as a race. We seem so hell bent to kill ourselves and destroy our world yet have the abilitys to create so many good things at the same time..
Ponderous..simply ponderous...
Posted by: drew at October 12, 2003 04:55 PM