[Think] Note to my family, Sept 11, 2001

[Fen Labalme]

=== my words to my family, below ===

It is a tremendously sad day.  Below is included something I wrote and sent
to the HAI mailing list that I thought I'd share with you, too.

Whuile it is imperative that we bring the perpetrators to justice, I hope
that we don't kill innocent people in the process.  And while we're at it,
let's get Saddam, too.  But I'm very nervous that this action will spark our
legislators toward a more powerful police state and that not much
governmental energy will go into looking at the causes of this
dreadful action.  As Benjamin Franklin wrote:

        Those willing to give up a little liberty for a little
        security deserve neither security nor liberty.

What will make us as a country safest of all would be some quick and
pinpoint retribution on the masterminds behind the terrorism, and then a
humble statement to the world that we fear that we may have been
overstepping our bounds, that our desire is to be a better world citizen,
and that our country will start working with other world leaders in open
talks as to how our political and business interests can better co-exist
with their countries and cultures.

Yow!  [my wife] Elaine and I (and [our yet-to-be-born child currently known
as] "the walnut") were at the top of one of the towers in March when we were
in NYC.  Here's a picture we took of the no-longer "Windows On The World"
restaurant/bar:
http://pix.fen.net/shrink.cgi?200103-cfp/05-newyork/DSCN6931.JPG/2

Love,
Fen

--- Included Message ---

My heart goes out to all the victims and their families of terrorism and war
- worldwide.  For me, the terror of these recent acts reminds me that these
acts were not senseless - people were mad enough at the U.S. and its
corporate/governmental policies with respect to the rest of the world that
they were willing to kill others and die themselves in the process.

I fear that our reaction to these strikes will be to increase our police
state, decrease our freedoms, and continue businesYess as usual in our policies
that are devastating other governments, peoples, and cultures.  No amount of
big brother-like watching of our daily lives can prevent terrorism.  We need
to learn to become compassionate leaders toward freedom and democracy rather
than heartless corporate bureaucracies looking only at the bottom line.

This is a time to remember that we are all part of the same world.  I cry
equally when an innocent Palestinian, an Israeli, an Iraqi or a New Yorker
dies.  I cry when our government supports the bombing of other countries for
cheap oil, or the subjugation of other peoples for our corporate profit.
And I cry when I watch the American people turn a blind eye towards our own
wrongdoings here and abroad.

This is a time for us to take stock in ourselves and how we live our lives.
It's a time to become more vocal in support of what we believe is right.
It's a time to replace ignorance and fear with awareness and love.

And, in this moment, it's a time to give blood for all those in need.

With love, hope, tears and some very real fear,
Fen