FW: "Attack on America" - a Personal Response

[Sandy Sandfort]

C'punks,

Here's a thoughtful piece I received from Sean Hastings:

> From: Sean Hastings [mailto:whysean at softhome.net]
> Sent: 12 September, 2001 20:22
> Subject: FW: "Attack on America" - a Personal Response
>
>
>
>  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
>    "Attack on America" - a Personal Response
>    by Sean Hastings
>
>    My wife Jo, my dog Wasabi, and myself were all in New York City at the
>    time of the attack on the World Trade Center. Thankfully we are all
>    alive and unharmed.
>
>    Although we were just a few miles from the site of the crashes, we were
>    alerted to what was going on by a friend's phone call and turned on the
>    news to watch. Safely insulated from it all by the magic of television,
>    we saw the Twin Towers burn and collapse knowing that tens of thousands
>    of people were probably still inside. Later, as we were able to get
>    through on a somewhat overloaded telephone network, we called our
>    friends and family around the world to assure them that we were safe,
>    and we called our New York friends to make sure that they too were ok.
>
>    Some friends I talked to personally witnessed the second jet strike the
>    tower and saw people leaping to their deaths to escape the flames. One
>    told me the story of a London office connected to its New York
> branch in
>    the World Trade Center by a live video link. Their trapped co-workers
>    told them that they were unable to leave the building, and that they
>    knew they were all going to die, then the screen went blank at the same
>    time as the TV news showed one of the towers collapse.
>
>    Communications technology has brought this tragedy to all of us more
>    closely than was ever before possible. An entire nation, and perhaps
>    most of the world was able to watch these events unfold in real time.
>    Feedback of reactions from around the world was also available in real
>    time. Most people were shocked and horrified, but I also saw
> reports of
>    people in some countries cheering and celebrating this attack on the
>    US. My first reaction was very emotional - I found myself thinking
>    "Bomb them back into the stone age" - and this shocked me. I consider
>    myself to be an individualist to the core, but I now know that a blind
>    loyalty to the group does exists somewhere deep inside me. At that
>    moment, I would have been willing to unthinkingly follow anyone
>    claiming to know how to justly avenge these acts, and prevent any more
>    such in the future.
>
>    Then I saw the start of the political rhetoric - various politicians
>    declaring that this was a time for supporting our leaders, and not
>    questioning or second-guessing their actions - law enforcement
>    officials saying that this was precisely why they all needed greater
>    powers over my life. Before the fires were even out - while people
>    were still burning and being crushed to death under tons of rubble -
>    there were already people trying to use my emotional reaction to
>    increase their power over my life and further their careers.
>
>    It was then that I realized that I was witnessing a very real threat to
>    our nation and our way of life. Not from the kind of disturbed people
>    who crash airplanes into buildings, but from people who would use such
>    an event to further erode our freedoms - those masters of demagoguery
>    who, while claiming to be the good guys, and in the name of defending
>    our country, our freedom, and our way of life, will try to take away
>    everything this country is supposed to be about. Even those with only
>    the best of intentions may severely jeopardize our liberty at a time
>    like this if they are not careful to give the freedom we tend to take
>    for granted the highest priority in considering any course of action.
>
>    So I know that a hoard of voices will now be crying out for your
>    attention, trying to use this event to convince you that we should
>    take whatever course of action most benefits their own position. I
>    know that my voice is just a small one in this cacophony, and unless
>    you agree with my message and forward it far and wide, I will scarcely
>    be noticed. But I will speak my advice anyway, and hope it does some
>    good. All I have to say to you is this:
>
>    Do not let your natural reactions of fear or anger help ANYONE to
>    further their short term political goals, or impose any "temporary"
>    measures. These are frightening and enraging times indeed, but it is
>    important to keep this simple truth firmly in mind: You cannot defend
>    freedom by reducing freedom. The people who try to tell you otherwise
>    are the ones who should frighten and anger you most.
>
>    We all want security and justice, but we must to be careful about the
>    price we are willing to pay. If we allow these tragic events to lead
>    to a reduction of our freedom, then the bad guys win.
>
>       --Sean Hastings
>       --New York, Sept 12, 2001
>       --mailto:sean at havenco.com
>
>    Please forward, summarize, quote, alter, or in any other way use this
>    text, in whole or part, as you choose. It is placed into the public
>    domain with no rights reserved or implied.
>  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .