email449.xml

email449.xml

born-digital

email

unknown

yes

2002-08-19

Hello people.

I'm just writing to gifsve a delayed "my family and I are fine," to send hopes that you and yours are as well, and to send condolences to those who have been more directly effected by last Tuesday's events than others. I also wanted to make sure that people are remaining sane and rational humans after such an inhumane* event. It was unsettling to me, though not very surprising, when I visited CNN.com and saw the results of a quick survey asking something to the likes of "Should the US bomb Kabul if Afghanistan doesn't hand over bin Laden?" The vast majority -- 70-something percent -- said "yes."

This was very disturbing to me, and I just want people to consider the long term effects of such a thing, and reconsider their current outlook on the entire situation the nation and our government is in right now. I don't want to waste time and space going into details and issues which have undoubtedly been discussed over and over again in these past few days, but just take a moment and think before screaming for revenge under the guise of "justice." Most of us don't want a war -- at least I hope not. The term war implies nation versus nation, which should not be the case here -- and if I hear Bush say the word in any context other than in the phrase "war against terrorism," I'm moving to Switzerland. Or at least to Canada.

In the meantime, I've scraped together this little checklist of things to do. They're just general suggestions, and I haven't even done some of the things on the list, but feel free to do what you like with it:

- If you haven't already, try to contact in some way all people you know who live/work in or near, or who may have been in the vicinity of the WTC disaster. Phone should work now, email, IM, fax, pager, etc.. Make sure they're ok.

- Read this article:
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101010924/esgoodwin.html

- Buy an American flag. Display it proudly, but not blindly. Think about why you are flying it, and make sure it's not for the wrong reasons (a very debatable and touchy subject into which I will not delve here).

- Read this article:
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2001/09/14/afghanistan/index.html

- Donate blood, etc..
Right now, I hear that there's a surplus in blood, so people should really wait a few weeks and THEN donate. Blood is only good for a limited time, so keep in mind that they need a steady supply of donors, not everyone at once. There are so many sites with links to how you can help, but make sure you're eligible to donate before going to a blood drive. There's a whole lot of info on the front page of http://sluggy.com/ (and a really "nifty" comic ;).

- Go here:
http://home.uchicago.edu/~dhpicker/petition

- Remember:

"...those people who did the horrendous deed on 9/11 must be found, arrested and brought to trial. The path of justice should not be short-circuited by the emotions of the moment."

"Terrorism seeks to turn ordinary life into a battlefield, and the bravest act Americans can undertake in the coming weeks is to go about their daily lives, ride airplanes and elevators and do what the British did during the Blitz, show up at work every morning."

"Don't blame the wrong people and don't give up the routine."

--Various sources

"I know not with what weapons WWIII will be fought, but WWIV will be fought with sticks and stones." - Albert Einstein

Let me know if I've forgotten anything important. And no, Nostradamus did not predict this (especially not in 1654, as he died in 1566). ;]

Take care, everyone, and be good.

Peace,
Us
;]

Mon, 17 Sep 2001 17:03:43 -0400

Some words.