Forgiveness

Re: [spiers] Forgiveness

Dear John & all: Thank you for having the courage to voice a perhaps "not
popular" opinion. I agree that Forgiveness has to be the answer, it is the
only practical long term solution and what is best to heal our troubled
World. I have believed for a very long time that we citizens of the United
States only get a small part of the truth, the part that some very powerful
interests in this country and other countries want us to get. Retaliating
on the basis of unknowns makes no sense and is certainly counter-productive
and only begets more violence and suffering of the innocent. If for no
other reason than " do what works" I hope and pray we act like a mature
sensible adult country and don't make a bad situation worse by joining in
terrorist insanity and becoming exactly what we deplore! God Bless
America - Della Allen
----- Original Message -----
From:
To:
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2001 8:57 PM
Subject: [spiers] Forgiveness


> Folks,
>
> I had the pleasure of beginning my career just after the last series of
> heinous terrorist acts in the early '70's, and was fortunate to travel
widely
> in mid-to-late 70's as a buyer. More specifically, I was able to travel
to
> "Red China" twice a year and circumstances were such that I was rubbing
> shoulders with "enemies of the USA" in the course of my work.
>
> Now there is no doubt some very evil people did this work today, and
equally
> no doubt that the USA will respond in a way that certainly settles matters
> for a while. There is much speculation as to who did this (and keep in
mind
> we had 2 whole days of "arab terrorist" alarms before Timothy McVeigh was
> arrested for the OKC blast), and we'll certainly find out. Of course no
> government will ever be behind such an attack, so it is likely a
> non-governmental group. Bottom line is we'll find out, and we will
retaliate
> effectively.
>
> What no one above grade schoolers seems to be asking is "why?" Why would
so
> many people conspire to do so much damage? It seems a given that this is
> what Arab terrorists do... bomb Americans.
>
> I got an answer in the late '70's from the kinds of people you saw dancing
in
> jubilation over our disaster. Their explanations were rational and
> understandable, although I never agreed. And fortunately, the vast
majority
> of those Arabs I met were genuinely distressed at what havoc the
terrorists
> cause the Arab world as well as our world.
>
> We are the most powerful country in the world and will remain so this
century
> no matter how many attacks we suffer. But there are many people within
our
> power structures who are unworthy of our country, just as these terrorists
> are unworthy of Arab culture. The worst elements in Araby give power to
the
> worst voices in our culture, and they feed on each other.
>
> We have in our arsenal, within our culture, a weapon that is irresistible.
> That weapon is forgiveness. Yes some of Araby rejoices at our wound, but
> most of cultured Araby is disgusted. We are the superior power, and as
such
> we can forgive, and then listen to the answer to the question why. There
is
> no shame in that.
>
> We voters may not be pleased with what we hear, and we may have to take
care
> to pick more worthy representatives. We are overwhelmingly powerful, and
it
> is up to us what happens next. Inshallah, the violence will stop.
>
> John Spiers

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