Counting the cost
Sep. 12th, 2001 11:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
khaosworks266 passengers dead.
200 firefighters dead.
78 policemen dead.
Estimated 10,000 dead in the World Trade Center.
More figures still pending.
Too big. It's just... too big to think about.
People have been asking why. The 200 firefighters and the 78 policemen who died were doing their jobs, as the heroes they are every day. But the others - they weren't soldiers. They weren't cops or firemen. They weren't emergency staff. They were just going about their own business, not too concerned about Afghanistan or the Middle East or whatever trouble spots were going on in the world. They weren't involved. But then someone decided they should be, and so they died.
Some people have said this is war. This isn't war. War has objectives. Objectives that do not involve fear or terror. In warfare, objectives are strategic and tactical. The objective of war is to achieve those strategic goals and end the conflict as speedily and as efficiently as possible. Anything else is butchery. It is terrorism. It's not that fine a line.
There is a right thing and a wrong thing in the universe, and the distinction is not difficult to make.
People will be searching for reasons for a long time. Maybe the world isn't tough enough on terrorism. Maybe, as Echud Barak put it on BBC World, we should be looking at an international effort like the one that effectively ended widespread piracy on the high seas. There will be more talking. There will be reprisals. The cycle of violence will continue.
Maybe the reason is as simple as this, that there is evil in the world. That there may be no devil, but there is devilry, for certain. And that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. That cliches sometimes have a way of reminding us how true they are.
But we must remember - numbers mean nothing. Life comes, life goes, and we barely register its passing. My aunt died from cancer last week, and we were grieving, and yet thankful that she died with minimal pain and that she knew she was loved. Her death means nothing. What she leaves behind, her life, her family, what she did, what she loved, what she knew, what she felt, what we remember. That is what matters most of all. So when you look at the figures, remember behind each figure is a person's life. That is what we must remember. That is what counts.
And we will continue counting the cost. Because this is history we are witnessing. This is posterity, recorded for all time. This is something we will tell our children, like Oklahoma City, like Tiananmen, like Munich, like Auschwitz. Whether by nameless terrorists or elected governments, this is the face of evil. And we must never forget.
200 firefighters dead.
78 policemen dead.
Estimated 10,000 dead in the World Trade Center.
More figures still pending.
Too big. It's just... too big to think about.
People have been asking why. The 200 firefighters and the 78 policemen who died were doing their jobs, as the heroes they are every day. But the others - they weren't soldiers. They weren't cops or firemen. They weren't emergency staff. They were just going about their own business, not too concerned about Afghanistan or the Middle East or whatever trouble spots were going on in the world. They weren't involved. But then someone decided they should be, and so they died.
Some people have said this is war. This isn't war. War has objectives. Objectives that do not involve fear or terror. In warfare, objectives are strategic and tactical. The objective of war is to achieve those strategic goals and end the conflict as speedily and as efficiently as possible. Anything else is butchery. It is terrorism. It's not that fine a line.
There is a right thing and a wrong thing in the universe, and the distinction is not difficult to make.
People will be searching for reasons for a long time. Maybe the world isn't tough enough on terrorism. Maybe, as Echud Barak put it on BBC World, we should be looking at an international effort like the one that effectively ended widespread piracy on the high seas. There will be more talking. There will be reprisals. The cycle of violence will continue.
Maybe the reason is as simple as this, that there is evil in the world. That there may be no devil, but there is devilry, for certain. And that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. That cliches sometimes have a way of reminding us how true they are.
But we must remember - numbers mean nothing. Life comes, life goes, and we barely register its passing. My aunt died from cancer last week, and we were grieving, and yet thankful that she died with minimal pain and that she knew she was loved. Her death means nothing. What she leaves behind, her life, her family, what she did, what she loved, what she knew, what she felt, what we remember. That is what matters most of all. So when you look at the figures, remember behind each figure is a person's life. That is what we must remember. That is what counts.
And we will continue counting the cost. Because this is history we are witnessing. This is posterity, recorded for all time. This is something we will tell our children, like Oklahoma City, like Tiananmen, like Munich, like Auschwitz. Whether by nameless terrorists or elected governments, this is the face of evil. And we must never forget.
