OTHER RANDOM THOUGHTS ON THE TERRORISM

New technology. People walking out of smoky trains, taking photos and videos with their cameraphones. Cool.

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Why do we feel the need to weigh everything? Why do I keep trying to figure out which is worse--to lose a limb, or to have a family member/boyfriend/husband missing and not know their fate? Can't I just let both of these things be tragedies in and of themselves without trying to determine who has the most right to my sympathy?

Can't I save my own soul and those of others and not have to create theoretical situations in which I might have to make a choice between the two?

Can't we work to save the rainforests without being asked why we're spending all of that time on the rainforests when there are CHILDREN out there who are STARVING?

Why is it that when I get to this point in a list of questions, I start to think of the Devotional Thoughts on What Would Journey Do?

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I've said myself, and heard others say, "I can't believe that the people doing this think they're doing the work of God."

I read a verse in the Bible the other night that I must have seen a hundred times, but thought of in reverse this time. Jesus is talking to his disciples and says that the day will come when men "will kill you and claim that they are doing God a service." We Christians hold up this verse all the time in this sort of self-righteous martyr kind of a way. Yes, I am so holy and wonderful. The bad people out there will persecute me. They may even go so far as to kill me, but I will hold my head up, knowing that they are persecuting me because of my holiness and closeness to God.

But now I'm starting to think of this verse in the other direction. If you are killing (or otherwise injuring) and believe that you are doing God a service, maybe you should consider that you just might be on the wrong side of the verse.

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It's so easy to find yourself slipping into places where you shouldn't go. The news media is reporting on the backlash the Muslim community has to deal with after these attacks. A quote from the BBC: "The Muslim community is feeling increasingly vulnerable and concerned, a monitoring team from the association found." I read that, and had this sort of reflexive, "uh, YOU are feeling vulnerable?" feeling.

Isn't that how it starts?

*I* know that the average Muslim isn't any more responsible or connected to these attacks than I am connected to the slaying of abortion doctors, the speeches of Pat Robertson, the policies/statements of George W. Bush, the politics of the Israeli government, or speeches made by some of the more rabidly man-hating feminists.

So why did I have that reflex?

I guess it just goes to show how vigilant we have to be with our own thoughts, our own souls.

I'm almost grateful that there are people with whom I share a "group" connection, with whom I disagree so fully. Because the more I can point myself toward examples of Christians, Jews, Americans, Feminists, Women, White People, Liberals, etc., with whom I disagree so violently, the more firmly I can plant my heart in the right place when it comes to not lumping all Muslims, Arabs, Men, Brown People, Conservatives, etc., in the same group.

All right, so I have the hardest time of all with Conservatives.

Maybe I should just develop a deep-seated hatred of Hedgehogs, so that I can have a focus for all of my general animosity.

STOOPID hedgehogs.