STILL ANGRY

Anders Behring Breivik

In the last few days, I've accumulated some rage and writing this post may be my only outlet.  

Here's one of the reasons:

My 9-year-old son walked into the dining room the other day waving a newspaper and screaming.  Alarmed, I asked what the matter was.  He was almost breathless. For the first time, he had just seen the headline about the Norway tragedy.  "Mom, can you believe this? This guy actually shot at kids," he said in a panic. "Yes, he did," I replied. "So, mom, kids my age had to run while this guy was shooting at them and some even drowned trying to escape," he said.  You see he follows the news fairly closely for his age, but I thought this particular event was so tragic that my husband and I kept it from him and his sister.  We thought explaining why and how such a tragedy could be possible can wait.  Now the secret is out and he's so angry.

As I see it, anger is the proper reaction to this horrible massacre, so let's get some things straight:

1. Killing children is not a form of protest, no matter the cause. It's criminal--pure and simple.
2. Not all Muslims are extremists by any stretch of the imagination, just like not all Jews are oppressors of Palestinians and not all Christians are crusaders.
3. No one religious group holds the moral high ground. We're all guilty of something some time in our history.
4. Human rights are universal. They're not reserved for any one ethnic or religious group.
5. Hate and brutality do not advance a just cause. They're cowardly, pathetic and always destructive.

The second reason is a frequent theme on this blog:  The Syrian government's brutality and continued criminal existence.



Hafez Al Assad

Over the last several days, the regime has stepped up its crackdown on innocent civilians, especially in the city of Hama, the site of the infamous 1982 massacre.  In that first Hama massacre, rivers turned red from the blood of thousands killed by the regime, and that's not an exaggeration.  The elder Assad used tanks, artillery and air bombardment to level Hama after the Muslim Brotherhood revolted in the early 1980s.  (See Thomas Friedman’s 2005 reflection in the New York Times HERE.)  Now, the world is witnessing a second Hama massacre.  (See this NEWS report from Reuters and keep in mind events continue to unfold.)
 


Bashar Al Assad

I guess nearly 30 years later, some things haven’t changed.  The people of Hama are still oppressed, brave and demanding basic rights, and the young Assad is proving to be no less brutal than his father.  I fear the news reports aren’t telling the whole story as the number of victims climbs by the hour, but thanks to social media and reports by brave Syrians, the world is watching this time.  The only question is whether the outcome will be any different.

In case you’re wondering, writing this post didn’t help.  I’m still angry at hateful, brutal criminals, and I’m getting angrier at the world for continuing to watch them.