Scribblings

Violence

I’m sort of half expecting to hear some bad news from the Democratic National Convention. We’ve had so much news stories warning that al-Qaida is going to strike sometime soon that as each event has come along this summer I’ve been expecting a major attack. The Fourth of July came and went, and I felt relieved.

I’ve been thinking about it and I wonder if there’s a smaller chance of an attack on this convention because the terrorists would prefer to take out President Bush and the Republicans. If they hit now, we’d be ready for them. Or … are they going to leave both conventions alone and then strike somewhere on Election Day?

It makes me angry that I have to be wondering these things. Many times, I just make a conscious decision to tune the whole thing out. I go through the day leaving it up to the Lord. Then there are other days when I get to wondering again.

Today I saw that the Egyptian diplomat was released safely. Well, I am glad he wasn’t hurt. But … new hostages were taken. There was some new violence and people were killed.

The diplomat from Egypt was taken because the terrorists didn’t like the fact that interim Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi visited that country. Right away, I could see how differently the diplomat was treated. No orange jumpsuit, no threats made against his life. I guess the terrorists were willing to negotiate and turned the guy loose.

In a way, I resent it. Did they let the man go because he was morally correct as the terrorists stated or was it because he was a diplomat? Why am I feeling cynical about this? I wouldn’t want the man killed, that is not what I’m saying. It’s just that six innocent people were slaughtered by these people and no one negotiated for them.

I’ve been reading a blog written by a young girl in Mosul. She doesn’t want to identify herself because she is afraid of retaliations. I don’t blame her. I wonder what it must be like to be so young and living in a besieged city. Most recently, a car bomb killed three people in Mosul. When I read the girl’s journal, I pray that she isn’t killed by one of these bombs. There is another young blogger, a 13 year old, who seems very young and innocent. She wants to have ‘the best’ blog. Does she worry a lot about all the bombs and other acts of violence?

I think about Heidi and Kristin. They are sweet and very creative. I think they’d each like to have cool blogs too. Then I wonder about what kinds of things they’d write if we lived in Iraq. I worry about that kind of violence coming here and affecting my kids or the grandkids. I keep praying. And then I push it all out of my mind again.

QOTW:

If you suddenly had enough money so that you never had to work another day in your life, what would you do to stay busy or keep your mind occupied?

I would do some of the same things I’m doing now, like surfing, writing and reading. If I had enough money, though, I could also travel and visit cultural centers and museums. I could spend weeks at the Smithsonian Museum and not have to worry about buying food or paying bills. I am interest in cultures and it would be so cool to actually visit Polynesia, for example, rather than just read about it.