God Bless America

[EXIT63]

God Bless America ! ! !

[sabSpeaks]

\"We\'re destroying human civilization to make something better of the world.\"
-- Tyler Durden, of an extremely relevant movie

[CptKipling]

To the courage of all of you over there.

[xxxPantero]

Let\'s hear it for the brave men and women who put their own lives on the line to save ours.

[**DONOTDELETE**]

God Bless America
And God Bless all the other Countries fighting for Democracy
and Progress against those Al Quaida worms!!!!

[Bruce]

Many thanks to all our friends, allies, brothers and sisters in this struggle at home and abroad . Myself I grew up in the US during the Viet Nam era. I have never had a great deal of affection for or trust in our government or foreign policy, but this is not about governments or policies anymore. They are killing innocent civilians, women and chilrden indiscriminately regardless of race creed or even nationality; and they seem to be taking great pleasure in that. It\'s now simply about the survival of the human race. The short term goal of hunting down the criminals is well underway, but for the long term we have to think about creating a world free of the conditions that breed this type of vermin: poverty, hunger, opression. There will always be criminals, but maybe we can create a world where nobody will listen to them.
My 2 cents,
Bruce

[franki]

Quote:
They are killing innocent civilians, women and chilrden indiscriminately regardless of race creed or even nationality

Well, I guess if they would discriminate it would be even worse.

[Whitehall]

The hard part of the 9/11 tragedy is that the US has had many responsibilities thrust upon it and that we are in turned blamed for assuming them.

Sure, America is more than a bit missionary at times, and we do think that the basic idea of democracy is good for everyone everywhere, but basically most Americans are isolationists. Our popular culture is tacky at times and certainly too loud and invasive. However, we don\'t want our troops in Saudia Arabia or Iraq much more than Islamic extremists do.

Yet, if we hadn\'t been willing to get involved in the affairs of other nations, at often considerable cost, Europe would be Nazi or Saddam would be controlling the world\'s major oil fields. Our involvement hasn\'t always been wise in plan or execution, and we have always had no small consideration for our own self-interest, but we have tried to do the right thing by our values. That\'s another definition of responsibilities.

The basic issue then is those American values. Not only are those values disagreed with, others resent the appeal they have and the power we have in making those values heard and felt world-wide. Those powers will sometimes be abused by some in the US.

The future will see a struggle between continued international anarchy and its attendent troubles and the US trying to impose order and stability on the peoples of our planet. I don\'t think the American citizens are willing to walk away from those responsibilities for order. Take the Balkans - we had to step in and impose order but are resented for that. Oddly, we helped the Muslems defend themselves against Slavic (and Russian) domination yet we are hated by Islamists because of it.

It is going to be a long struggle to bring peace to the world - many more Americans will die - both military and civilians. I don\'t see where we have a choice. I just hope that we do it right and earn support from thinking people everywhere.

[Marisa]

In Russia we had lost so many lives. We had so many wars....
And then America got involved in war with Afganistan. I don\'t want you guys, get killed there how it was with our good man.
I wish it would never, ever heppen again

[Gerund]

Well said, Whitehall. I\'m not feeling too verbose today, so I\'ll just add my favorite quote:

*** The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing ***

[DrSmellThis]

Thanks, Marisa. Let\'s play a game of chess sometime (my favorite game), for continued peace between our two countries and elsewhere.

Despite all our political differences, we all shared the horror of 9/11. Anyone with a heart was affected, no matter where they lived. I was involved in counseling 9/11 victims (over the phone), and my mental health took a beating because of it. I lost a job due to the aftershocks I experienced.

We need to end the conditions for war and other ecological destruction.

I know it sounds outrageous, but we need to realize that evil is ultimately another face of ourselves -- a cancer that eats us alive because we are afraid to know it. I have come to believe \"evil\" is just crazy, stupid, misdirected \"good\".

For down deep, we all want the same things: health, pleasure, self knowledge, to share ourselves deeply with the world through love and our projects; to laugh. There is plenty in everyday life to keep us happy already if we have security.

Ironically, the same walls we have constructed to protect us from evil protect evil from us. Through mutual listening, understanding, acceptance and compassion, those walls will hopefully dissolve someday. This is the potential of true communication. And we live in the age of communication.

It is indeed about creating conditions wherein \"evil\" doings make no sense -- even, and especially, to those who perpetrate them. It is about taking the wind from the sails of \"evil.\"

Peace in the West Bank would be a good start.

Blessings to us all.

[frenchie]

Just thinking of all the victims of terrorism, wherever they come from and whatever the reasons are.

Frenchie

[**DONOTDELETE**]

xxxPantero:

I\'m a member of the NYPD, I sincerely thank you for that post, and the support of everyone else here for the people of NYC, and Washington D.C..

When I woke up at 7:00 am on September 11th, 2001 I would have never expected something like that to happen, ever. I was taking a few college classes, and as I was leaving my house, on the corner I had a perfect view of the WTC, all I saw was black smoke billowing out of the upper floors, not knowing what had happened. Instead of going to college, I ran to work. That day I was in for the shock of my life, I will NOT speak of what I saw, nor would I wish it on my worst enemy. We WILL recover, and emerge victorious. The terrorists took down 2 buildings of steel and concrete, they can\'t take down the steel and concrete of the American spirit!

I may not get paid the greatest salary, but I love my job with a passion. If was to win millions in the lottery, would I return to work the next day? ABSOLUTELY!

NYPD-FDNY-PAPD-Civilians.
\"Gone, but not forgotten\"

[Watcher]

It was absolutley horrendus what those terrosists did. The americans will recover but if they go into Iraq it would be better to assaisinate Saddam Huisen and spare the people of Iraq the hundreds of bombs and innocent killing. To emerge victorious without losing a big lot of life. The people of NYC have coped well the police service and fire service did a great job and the loss of life was great. It shocked us all even those half a world away. The american people have a great spirit but that needs to be put to good for the entire world.