i want to reach out and hug each of you — my friends, my family. so many thoughts, so many emotions, so many images, stories and questions.

what i’d like to say:

to my friends in new york and dc — my heart goes out to you. i’m thankful that all of you are alive, and well. there are so many words of comfort i want to share with you, but i hope that they go without saying. you have been in my thoughts every minute of the day since i first heard of the attacks. to everyone, i hope that your friends and family are safe. i’m waiting to hear back about a few friends of friends in ny who haven’t turned up yet, but am hoping for the best.

being in london, i’ve been only slightly removed from the situation in the us. don’t get me wrong — the entire world is in a state of shock, and the parallels between ny & london are obvious. the fear, the grief, the bomb threats are here as well. there was a no-fly zone over london. everyone’s on edge, sickened, quiet. please trust me in saying that the whole world is affected by this — there’s pretty much two ways to think of the world — ny/dc and the rest of the world.

i’d like to be more removed from the situation. i’d like to take a step back, and remove myself from the media blitz going on around me. i’d like to unplug from the constant stream of newspaper headlines and videos and news reports. and i will — from here on out i’ll only be glancing at the news a few minutes each day. i encourage you to unplug as well — especially if you’ve been reading the news for more than a few hours each day.

i’d like to take another step back, and think about the terrorism. my first question: what were the terrorists hoping to accomplish? they wanted to change the way that america & the free world operate. they wanted to scare us — intimidate us — and prevent us from enjoying our freedoms.

my second question: how do we prevent this from happening? we return to our daily routines. this is not easy — and this will take time — and there will be grieving. but this has to be our focus, starting right now.

my third question: what other motives could they have had? to cause the us government to overreact — to start a war. do you think terrorism of this magnitude can go unpunished? of course not. but who do we punish? to what end? look at examples of long-standing “no winner” conflicts — the israel/palestine conflict, the ira/english conflict. it’s not a question of right and wrong — it’s a question of escalation. any further murder of innocent people will cause matters to worsen. as hard as it is, as unfair as it may seem, we have to deal with this incredibly carefully, tactfully and decently.

politics. governments. religion. race. now, more than ever, it’s important to celebrate diversity and be understanding of other cultures. we cannot blame a government, a race, a religion for committing these attacks. the “them” in “us and them” is unknown. it saddens me that in america racial tensions are escalating. i pray that the us government takes a deep breath before doing anything irrational. blame? pointing fingers? airline security? fbi intelligence? this is another form of overreacting which will not help matters. when there are people so upset, so incredibly upset that they’re willing to give up their lives for something, there’s really little we can do to stop them. that is, except from preventing them from being so incredibly upset. america has done horrible things in the past. things that we don’t see on 60 minutes or read in the paper — but obviously there’s a lot of people that detest america. in some cases, they might be justified.

these are questions that are not easily to deal with, and have no clear answers. these types of questions and issues will be debated for years to come… i just needed to vent a bit, but am not opening up a debate with you, my good friends & family.

let’s take another step back.

what will your life be like a year from now? ten years from now? i’m sure you’re envisioning smiles, family, picnics and rainy afternoons. going to the movies, enjoying a cup of coffee, holding hands and looking back at this day. this is our future. you are my friends, and i will see you again, and we will have great times in the future. life will go on.

take another step back. humanity -is- progressing. the world is, overall, a better place than it was 100 years ago. 1000 years ago. human life, on the whole, is better than it’s been. freedom, prosperity, scientific advances, peace — these are the trends that can not be stopped. this is a hiccup on the timeline of humanity — mind you, this could be a big hiccup — but there have been horrible hiccups in the past, and humanity has moved on.

please — remember those that have been lost, and have been injured. remember the innocent victims, and heroes, and pray that this never happens again. be supportive of friends, coworkers, family, strangers that have been directly or indirectly affected by this.

please — have some comfort food, listen to some loud music, draw a bubble bath. have normal conversations with your friends. make plans for the future. try to avoid listening to the horrible stories, try to avoid exposing yourself to the unpleasant media and news.

i know that i will never let myself fall out of touch with my friends again, and i hope you do the same. just as i was about to hit “send” on this e-mail, i received word that a colleague of mine who was in the wtc has been found, and is “okay”. there are miracles happening still.

take care, and enjoy life!

à

“the tradition of the oppressed teaches us that the ’state of emergency’ in which we live is not the exception but the rule. we must attain to a conception of history that is in keeping with this insight. then we shall clearly realize that it is our task to bring about a real state of emergency, and this will improve our position in the struggle against fascism. one reason why fascism has a chance is that in the name of progress its opponents treat it as a historical norm. the current amazement that the things we are experiencing are ’still’ possible in the twentieth century is not philosophical. this amazement is not the beginning of knowledge–unless it is the knowledge that the view of history which gives rise to it is untenable.”

–walter benjamin, “theses on the philosophy of history,” (spring, 1940) trans. harry zohn.