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Journal (The Ember Update)

Thursday, September 20

Perspective

Two articles worth reading, the first by Tamim Ansary, and Arab-American, who says:

"We come now to the question of bombing Afghanistan back to the Stone Age. Trouble is, that's been done. The Soviets took care of it already. Make the Afghans suffer? They're already suffering. Level their houses? Done. Turn their schools into piles of rubble? Done. Eradicate their hospitals? Done. Destroy their infrastructure? Cut them off from medicine and healthcare? Too late. Someone already did all that. New bombs would only stir the rubble of earlier bombs."

The second, a Letter from Afghanistan:

"Two million Afghans have fallen victim in the past two decades and up to now the tears of orphans have not dried, the cries of widows have not stopped. America must not create thousands more widows and orphans. An end should be put to the sadness and worries of our people. In case, according to the US, the accused people are in Afghanistan, what wrong have the innocent people of Afghanistan done?"

More photos of the rest of the world's grief for Americans. I find their care very touching. My mom made a similar observation as we've received well over 200 cards in response to my father's death last month.

Sunday, September 16

Petition

A peace and justice petition is being circulated for world wide signatures.  You may want to sign it and circulate it further. (Signers may choose to hide their identity from the public.)

I wonder if it can possibly make any difference, but I signed.

Friday, September 14

War

I ended my last entry by saying, "Fear will not be the dominant result of recent events." However, it seems war will be.

I know I am in the minority by saying this, but war will not solve the problem. Education, compassion, and understanding will help much more than a war ever will. If our actions as a nation over the last century have earned us enemies, then we need to understand why. We all know what happens in war. Anger. Hatred. Economic distress. Death, including civilians like you, me, our family and friends. How will any of those things make the world a better place for any of us?

Some say recent events are partly the result of our persistent national arrogance, and they may be correct. Will our arrogance push us into war as well? Please let us work for peace. It's easy to get angry and lash out. Peace is a much harder thing to achieve, but much more worth the effort.

My friend Martin commented today: "My country, right or wrong" is not a cogent argument. It's one step away from "I was only following orders." Bush has used the phrase "War on Terrorism," but what does he mean? The term "war" traditionally indicates armed offense and defense. But a war on terrorism can be conducted through education and thoughtful decision-making, much like someone might mean if they referred to a "War on Ignorance."

I found the following two accounts from people in the World Trade Center towers especially worth reading; both reveal the benefits of kindness, tolerance, and patience, rather than hatred and thoughtlessness:

Usman Farman's account, "Brother, if you don’t mind..."
John Labriola's account

Also, an interesting perspective on tall buildings. (Thanks Ginohn)

Finally, I agree that the remarks of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were "absolutely inappropriate and irresponsible." Idiots, but we already knew that, didn't we?

Thursday, September 13

Hatred, ignorance and compassion

My friend Maggie has posted a page to her online diary, regarding my father's death. In it she ponders the inexplicable lack of response by the ticket agent who witnessed my father's collapse.

As I told Maggie, I sit here crying when I think that it's been the death of my father which has led me to encourage others to help people in need. And now there are so many families and friends grieving for their lost loved ones as the result of the terrorism two days ago.

How can people have so much hatred? The only thing I can relate to is that I have a lot of anger at the ticket agent, Lorenzo. At moments I've wanted to make him suffer because of my pain and the indignity that my father suffered in his presence. But that kind of thinking is counterproductive. Yesterday I told a friend I was a little worried about what I might do when I get to California, and am near the San Francisco International Airport and Lorenzo. She suggested I think about what my goal is. Is it to let Lorenzo know how hurt and angry I am by his actions? Is it to exact revenge? How much of my hurt and anger is about him, or is it about the state of human sensitivity in general? All things I must think about.

In the coming days and weeks many people will be experiencing the myriad feelings of grief that I have been encountering. It deeply troubles me that I am now hearing accounts of beatings, threats, and other destructive behavior being directed at Islamic-Americans. That kind of response to terrorism is a form of terrorism in itself. Ignorance, in this case, is not bliss, and the resulting actions perpetrate and promote further negative feelings and responses. Let's not let this turn into the vicious cycle we have witnessed in Northern Ireland and Israel/Palestine.

I wonder why the hijackers chose to let people on the airplanes call their loved ones. Did they think it was a way to futher upset and intimidate people? I think it was a miscalcualtion. If I were told by a hijacker I was going to die, what reason would I have to just sit back and let the event occur? Why not resist? I agree with my brother in believing the people on United Airlines Flight 93 were especially heroic in deciding to attempt to take matters in their own hands. I won't be surprised if people react to future hijackings similarly to the passengers of Flight 93.

The hijackers thought they were terrorizing us, but today people in DC are angry. I can see it in the way they are driving. Tuesday, the people on the streets of DC were like zombies. Yesterday, things were still quiet. Today is different. As my friend Skip pointed out, anger galvanizes the population, and this is a big country with a lot of people. Fear will not be the dominant result of recent events.

Thursday, September 6

Staying / Going

I've told my employer I'm staying in DC, at least for the time being (though I'll continue job hunting in CA). I've got to get too many things in order before I make any moves, and I need to spend more time with my mom and brother. I'll just have to risk being laid off. In the grand scheme of things, it's really just not something to worry too much about.

To curb my (sometimes overwhelming) wanderlust, I've decided to undertake my trip to Italy after all (it was in danger of being shifted to an unknown later date). The middle of this month I'll be visiting Rome, Florence, and Torino (Turin), the latter being the city where my friend Stefano lives. If anyone has any pointers about the cities I'm visiting, do please drop me a line.

Been thinking more about going back to school. Further research tells me that a Human Factors Masters degree could indeed help my career in the Web Usability field. Several of the job postings I've scanned list that or a Masters in Psychology as requirements/preferred. I've also seen HCI (Human-Computer Interaction) mentioned. Still need to delve more into these fields/possibilities. It seems I'd have to get a number of courses under my belt before I would be admitted to a Masters program. Maybe completing the course work for a B.S. in Industrial Design would suffice (my B.A. is in Art).

Then again, perhaps I can get my foot in a door based on the knowledge I've already pulled together (it's not quite complete, and no, I haven't spell-checked it yet).

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