What Were YOU Thinking?



 (An ongoing series of true life events)

As I sit here typing, deep in my thoughts, I consider how many people have wondered at one time or another in their colorful, happy, sad, inventive, mysterious, incoherent, impossible or expressive Living Out Loud lives (I may have left out an adjective or two, ya think?), they have thought to themselves…”What were YOU thinking?”

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Today’s installment is entitled: Terrorism, What is it and what can we do about it?

Osama Bin Laden, the world’s number one terrorist is DEAD.  Yet, there are many more to step up and take his place.  Terror thrives in the Middle East and it spreads from there to every nook and cranny of the world.

An ongoing, all out war of morality, religion, superiority and politics continues to rage there.  It’s extremist Muslims against the infidel.  Mainly, it’s against Israel but also, anyone who takes the Jewish part in all this.  This war goes back millennia and frankly, I don’t see any end in sight until the Second Coming.

One has to ask the question however, of the terrorist, “WWYT/What Were You Thinking”?  Do you really think that strapping bombs to little children or young men and women, with the promised reward of heavenly virgins and blowing up civilians will garner world support for your cause?  Do you actually think that hijacking jets and flying them into buildings where thousands of people (who have nothing to do with you or your cause) get killed is going to get support for your way of life?  What are you thinking…or are you?

Then there is the racially motivated terrorism.  This is the kind of terror that begins at home.  The killing fields in Africa where tribes war against each other.  Women being raped, their husbands killed or worse, taken away never to be seen or heard from again.  In Ireland, much like the Middle East, it’s Protestant against Catholic, a free Republic against the Crown of England.  In the US, it’s Crips and Bloods, the Almighty Black P Stone nation, the Triad/Yakuza, Asian Boyz, the infamous Hell’s Angels, the Latin Kings and the 18^th Street gang, just to name a few.  All of the above traffic in violence and terror. 

Gangs originally began in the US to protect ones family and possessions or localities.  Of course, these gangs now operate on a much more feral level.  Murder for hire, theft, rape and the oh, so enticing “jumping in” ceremonies are but a few of the ways these people terrorize their communities.

Do all these horrific acts make them think that they will be seen as endearing to those around them?  No!  It’s all done to make others submit out of fear.  But it also does something equally unseemly, it perpetuates stereotypes.  How you might ask?  To begin with, when some see radical Muslims on the news or their group being the ones who take credit for bombing a school bus or some grocery store; what faces do you think they associate in the future with these horrific crimes?  

Why is it that terror is the first action these people resort to?   Why not try the news or peaceful demonstrations first?  Other people deal with their plights in such ways.  So how can these things be good things?  How can they be more expedient for their lifestyles?  Do they not see that this behavior disenfranchises them from the rest of the world?

 “What Were You Thinking”?  It seems there are only three logical options for this type of lifestyle behavior.  They can get out…maybe, they can go to prison (and most do) or they can die and early violent death.  Great choices, are they not?

I said earlier in this segment and I will say it again, “Terror begins at HOME.  Whether it is the bully in school or the street gang or international terrorists, the psychology is the same.  Gangs are growing all over the world, whether they are Middle Eastern gangs, Russian, Irish, street thugs or prison gangs, they are exponentially flourishing.  Is there any way that we can turn the tide of this runaway problem or will it be a slow, case by case endeavor as it was with Osama bin Laden, with no real permanent outcome?

Because of terrorists (no matter what the type) there are people who will lose their lives.  The ongoing dilemma is that it costs those who live through terror their freedoms.  We are the ones who become insecure or locked up behind our walls while they roam free.  And we are the ones who cross the street when we see someone of a different race coming toward us with a brief case or a rough looking appearance.  This is not good for the human race or the ability for us to move forward with peace and love.

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I welcome all comments and suggestions to every installment of WWYT that is produced.  I also encourage you to give me your comments on possible ideas for each segment as I will be happy to credit your name for your thought.  Finally, I would like to thank everyone who participates here in advance and for those who have already participated in making WWYT the success that it is.