Please. I am sick and sad and disheartened and horrified by the tragedy of last Tuesday.
However, I am now getting alarmed by some of the responses on this board.
I beg you all. Please can we all calm down and try to pull together the way most of the rest of the nation has?
We are a community here. We care about each other. We can make a difference. We can love each other, care about each other, help each other, be tolerant of other’s points of view.
I know I am not the only one who cannot stand this. People have died…MANY people. Children have lost their parents. Spouses have lost their life partners. Best friends have lost the people who helped them get through the day to day agonies in their lives.
Please…can we PLEASE try to help each other instead of allowing our grief pull us apart? Please?
Scotti, even all of the extreme ideas you see floated at the boards are part of the healing process. In response to your request I have already tried to clarify to people what my precise levels of engagement are. But I need to add something.
Any one of us could have been in that building. We could have lost you, me or any number of the New York dopers last Tuesday (perish the thought). This was an attack on us all. I would be less than a man if I did not have and experience a strong surge of protective instincts.
I love life dearly and detest war. But I loathe the senseless murder of thousands of people even more. War is a puny thing when it comes to exterminating such a cancer on society.
I know the anguish that this discord at the boards is causing you and for that I apologize. I think you are a truly kind and wonderful person. Sadly, I also know that the world has hit a new threshold of violence and the old days are drifting away like so much dust in a storm.
Scotti, you know I feel the same way. This community is an important part of my life and I know that goes for many others.
I don’t like seeing the anger in the posts. I know we are all hurt and like hurt animals we strike back. And I know that nerves are on edge. But, let’s don’t make enemies of each other.
So, I’ll echo, ‘Please, let’s just help each other get through this.’
It might sound weird, but in the midst of this tragedy, I found myself thinking about you, Scotti, and how much it would hurt you. (Not that it didn’t hurt the rest of us, of course.) All my best to you.
I’m hoping that if Ijust keep loving people and living my live as best I can it will continue to add to the good here. (here as in anywhere, the boards, life, everything.)
hugs everybody Let’s take care of each other, m’kay?
Oh, Rasa. You know me so well. Thank you for thinking about me, and for caring.
And Medea’s Child…You DO do that. You are such a loving and giving person.
Kate and Kathryn. Two of my favorite people. Two of my “adopted” children. I love you both, and I know that each of you live your lives with love. You make me so proud to have you in my life.
We do have a wonderful community here and I’m hopeful that we’ll all pull through this stronger and more tolerant. Emotions are running high right now - a little anger is to be expected. We should all try to focus it on those responsible for this horrendous act of terrorism and not on each other, though.
It is our responsibility as citizens of the world that we help each other get through these perilous times as best as we can.
Tolerance and compassion may seem to be in short supply but you have just demonstrated that this is but an illusion.
Love is stronger than hate, compassion is never wasted, the capacity for forgiveness is in all of us. I know that we will prevail against anything that might try to tear us apart. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be us.
Very well put, Scotti. I totally agree, and that’s why you may have noticed not many posts from me this past week. My nerves are too raw to take much of the anger I have seen at times on here.<As I’m sure are many other people’s.>
Scotti said: ‘Please…can we PLEASE try to help each other instead of allowing our grief pull us apart? Please?’
Zen said: 'Any one of us could have been in that building. We could have lost you, me or any number of the New York dopers last Tuesday (perish the thought). This was an attack on us all. I would be less than a man if I did not have and experience a strong surge of protective instincts.
I love life dearly and detest war. But I loathe the senseless murder of thousands of people even more. War is a puny thing when it comes to exterminating such a cancer on society.
I know the anguish that this discord at the boards is causing you and for that I apologize. I think you are a truly kind and wonderful person. Sadly, I also know that the world has hit a new threshold of violence and the old days are drifting away like so much dust in a storm.’ <added italics and underlining mine>
What beatle, Veb, Jim,ITR Champion, Mauvais, dentathurdent, Medea’s Child and the rest said as well. Especially Feynn’s comment: ‘Love is stronger than hate, compassion is never wasted, the capacity for forgiveness is in all of us. I know that we will prevail against anything that might try to tear us apart. If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be us.’
Amen.
If there were a way to bottle the compassion that Cheri’s demonstrates day after day, we could heal the world with a snap of the fingers. Unfortunately, we must deal with these feelings and frustrations from within ourselves…there is no easy cure-all.
Zen, this “new threshold of violence” you mention can be matched with a new level of compassion if we choose to follow that path. As Veb so eloquently states, it is our choice.
It is not being asked here to calm down…we, all of us, have the right to feel anger and frustration and despair over this tragic situation…no one denies each person’s right to their emotions. But I hope that we slow down a bit and catch our collective breaths and think this through logically…to retaliate without thought may only lead to more tragedy. Yes, I am angry. No, I do not wish more death on innocents, as I’m sure you don’t either.
Let us not fan the flames of hate and vengence. We are, as Cheri said, a family here. Now, more than ever, we should come together and support and care for one another.
You are good people out there folks…I am honored to be a part of these boards.