I remember...

[learnteach]

getting up, and wandering to the living room, and turning on the computer, and getting the message that I needed to see the news footage.  I had a conference call with people who were working in the 2nd tower, some of whom did not make it out.    I remember the fear and hysteria and the updates.

I remember how dark America got after that incident, and how the demagogues used the incident to incite hate and war.  

I'm sitting in my cube, watching a similar but much lesser tragedy unfold in Boston.

I'm scared.   I'm so scared I've cried a couple times.     But the most important thing is to move forward, to be human, to help, to build, to not let the flashing lights and televised screams speak fully to the inner child/beast.     The company's Boston crew was 100 yards from the finish line; they're OK, and out of the area.    

Let the hysteria machine die down, do the job in front of me.

Still scared.

Comments

[shutt3rg33k.livejournal.com]

*hugshugshugs*

[katerit.livejournal.com]

It's frightening, and as you point out, the aftermath is even more frightening.

One moment at a time, one foot in front of the other, and the knowledge that there are those to whom we can reach out and with whom we can share our fear and our love is all we have.

[marysdress.livejournal.com]

So far my kids have taken things like this in stride and I wonder - is it because I downplay it and don't have it on the news or is it because they already live with the knowledge that they have life threatening food allergies so every day is a series of important choices or is it that they've simply grown up with this as the way the world is?

I've certainly had to tell them about enough news stories by now that it could well be that. I also have sometimes referred to it as the one upside of having to make choices every day that have the kind of health implications theirs do.

Once a very wise person told me that every parent lives in denial because to understand the truth of the risks to our children would be too much - and for those of us who have seen the truth then the only option left is to choose faith.

So, John, choose faith - after you grieve. Faith in people, faith in humanity, faith that things will somehow be alright and we will do our best to make it so.

Hugs and then some.

It's not that I can't choose faith;

[learnteach.livejournal.com]

I see people running in to help. I'll go get a needle stuck in my arm ASAP, and donate blood. My fear isn't for the moment, and my need was to go outside, and be in the real world, not in front of a screen flashing RED ALARM at me.

SO I did.

Now, setting up the blood giving appointment.

Re: It's not that I can't choose faith;

[marysdress.livejournal.com]

The screen is awful. I gave up on it and - I am shocked to say - found myself getting the updates of what was happening near me via Facebook with sanity and compassion.

Sending you the hugs anyway... ;-)

[jeanvieve.livejournal.com]

Take a moment to look at the footage in a new way: Every person who fell down had someone run to them to lift them up. People ran toward the smoke and carnage, not away from it.

Individuals suck. They always have and always will. People rock. I looked at the videos and saw people reaching out, not giving a darn whether the person who needed help was Christian, Pagan, black, white, green, liberal, conservative, or from Alpha Centauri. They just ran toward the trouble to help people out.

That's made of awesome. I'm proud.

[anthraxia.livejournal.com]

At the risk of sounding horrendously callous, this isn't as big as you fear. From the outside, it feels a bit like someone who once nearly drowned in an ocean having a panic attack in the bathtub.
There were bombs like this before 7/11. They were horrible tragedies, but they, like this, were just what they are - the horrible result of a fractured mind able to play out its nightmare fantasy. But in the end, it's just 2 bombs. The UK and London in particular survived a plethora of these, over several decades, at the hands of the IRA and kept going as normal - because normal is the only way you beat the lunacy dead.
In all honesty, the best you can do, my friend, is feel sorrow for those who died, compassion for their friends and family, and then - switch off the tv. Don't watch the carnage being given up as advertiser-fodder, don't buy into the car-wreck fascination. Turn it off, go out and live your life as a good, honest man. Tend your garden, go for a walk and smile at the people you pass, cook for your friends, do all the things you normally do to show the world you love it.
Because you do have a choice about whether or not you let people poison you.
Hugs, and be happy.

It's not the bombs...

[learnteach.livejournal.com]

I used to work for BT, went through the bomb trap entrance everyday, etc. It's the drumbeat of the news cycle.

Gave blood. Much better. Thanks!

[seussgirl27.livejournal.com]

Horrific incidents like these breed fear and insecurity, and as you feel your fear, know you are thought of in a positive and loving way, my friend. I hope your friends and co-workers are safe. Many squeezes.