Disaster: What of it?

Often when horrific incidents occur I feel inadequate to put into words the feelings that I have and I don't want to trivialize the pain of people by using trite phrases that have not been given the benefit of some consideration. All of the initial things to be said have already been said by those there and by the talking heads on television and lots of others. After the occurrences have had time to reach their fruition and the impact is known is the time to look at what happened and try to make some sense from the death and destruction. When devastation strikes it is only about the lives of the people impacted. Many other times we calculate economic impact, ideologies and preferences before we consider the impact on people's lives but when we see such disasters as we have seen in the past week our hearts go out to the people and those other things just aren't important any more. It is very likely the way we should look at things more often.

The Boston Marathon bombing left innocent bystanders dead and maimed much as the men and women we send to war come back to us. We are just not used to seeing such horror close up but when we consider the people we must also think of the innocent around the world to whom it is a common occurrence. These people were at the center of the destruction wrought by two young men of Chechen extraction. Their motivations are unknown Usually the Chechen terrorists focus on the Russians who rule their part of the world with an iron fist and brutality. Why they have chosen to bring their battle to the United States is still a matter for conjecture but I am sure we will soon know the answer to that. It has taken several days and the shutdown of one of our largest cities to kill one and capture the other. Lives have been lost to them in the hunt and the economic loss is yet to be calculated. The purpose of such attacks is not to win a battle but to cause fear and terror in the people. They calculate that with enough terror we will give up and give them what they want, whatever that might be in this case. But if they sought to divide Boston they failed. Just as New York did Boston united in their pain and suffering and wholeheartedly supported their law enforcement personnel. Then they cheered them when it was brought to a close. Not only do those citizens of those cities bond but the entire nation bonds with them and calls them brother and sister. The Mayor of Boston said it when he said that if the goal of the bombers was to terrorize the city they had failed. That must be the attitude taken whenever we are attacked because it is the lack of intimidation and fear that defeats the enemy.

Then came the explosion of a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. Just like a terroristic tactic there was an initial explosion and fire and then when first responders came there was a much larger and devastating explosion. The pictures don't do justice to the power of that explosion that utilized the same explosive that was used in Oklahoma City at the Murrah Building but more of it. The picture I saw that gave be the clearest idea of the force of that explosion was one of some railway tracks some distance from the point of eruption. Those tracks were pushed sideways like spaghetti strands. If I am correct in assuming most of the blast was directed outward and upward then this was only a small portion of the total force that did this damage. First responders were lost doing what they do in the face of danger which is trying to keep others from harm. But others were harmed. There were houses, schools and a nursing home in close proximity to the fertilizer facility and one can only speculate as to the wisdom of that. It is one of the reason that I support planning and zoning which would have prevented the exposure of people to danger.

Two horrific acts. One intentional and one accidental happening only hours apart. What can such things tell us? First it demonstrates the indomitable spirit of people that will ignore personal danger to assist others in need. It is a trait that gives the rest of us hope and restores the belief that good will triumph over evil. It reveals characteristics that we did not know we had and hopefully will make us more considerate and compassionate people. Then I think we must examine what went wrong to cause these things to happen for without that those acts will have no meaning. Without introspection those acts will mean no more than a possum that has been run over on the road.

We must learn what caused these two young men who chose to emigrate to the United States and who reportedly intended to seek citizenship to become so distraught with the way of life in the United States. We must learn why they were willing to be so insensitive to human suffering that they would wreak havoc in the way they did. We can learn how to do many things to improve our security but absolute security is impossible in a free society. It has always been thus. We must learn if there is anything that we can do to remove the impetus for such a murderous impulse. It is imperative that we recognize that those young men in Boston had some grievance that they thought was only addressable through violence.

In the case of the explosion in Texas we must learn how we can work with such chemicals while reducing the hazards of the workplace. In addition, we must learn not to place our families and loved ones in a zone that is subject to death and destruction. We are working with ever more dangerous substances and must not be unmindful of the implications to people.

But the lessons that we learned about the spirit of the people can give us hope for without hope, reason for being is lost. Things are never as simple as they sometimes seem. We must resist the inclination to distrust and hate all Muslims. We must not give in to the demands of a business that claims safety is too expensive. And we must resist the temptation to surrender our liberties in order to achieve a diaphanous security.