Looks
Listens
Reads
Ramblings
August 2003September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
Site Feed
Was reading Avantgo on my way to school this morning when I felt overcome with dread. Some of my subscriptions include The New York Times and BBC News and this morning, at 7.30am, I was reading about the shock that was echoing across Europe following the train bombing in Spain.
It wasn't the kind of news that one should read so early in the morning because you will end up having a sinking feeling in your stomach. Indignation, helplessness, fear....these thoughts and more ran through my mind. Indignation for the loss of innocent lives, civilians who did nothing wrong but happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Helplessness at the thought of terrorism, this sick evil pervading our everyday lives and yet we can do nothing about it. Fear that one day, despite the government's best efforts, this evil will reach us and destroy our lives as it did others.
I can never understand why there are people in this world who take such perverted delight in destruction. Surely, no matter which religion you believe in, the gods will never advocate the taking of innocent lives? Surely lives are deemed precious and no human should have the right to decide who is to live and who is to die (except in cases of crime and punishment)?
And when I read about how Palestinians celebrated the deaths of two Palestinian suicide bombers who died while trying to blow up Israelis, I felt sickened. A celebration of death sounds paradoxical, irrational. These people have lived in unrest for so long that peace is alien to them, that they derive comfort and relief from death.
Sometimes, I feel ashamed of myself. As I am shopping and buying unnecessary pieces of clothing and accessories, there are people out there who live with real threats and fears. And here I am, blatantly indulging myself and giving in to materialism. Perhaps I am too spoilt for my own good.
Life is so short. Tomorrow, I might be lying in a pile of rubble in the midst of a carnage created by racial extremists who decided to bomb the train that I am in. Who knows?