By In Amman, I’ve been glued to British satellite television since getting up; walking away briefly to change into actual clothes and to wash my hair. A friend of mine that works in central London was unaccounted for, and has only made contact a couple of minutes ago. I’m angry, upset, disgusted, breathing sighs of relief for my friend, and so on.
But I’m not scared.
Today’s explosions in central London have first and foremost convinced me of the futility of terrorist activities. They may hurt, maim, and kill, but they won’t cow civilized people from around the world into submission. If anything, they are slowly beginning to prove just how useless their violent attacks ultimately are.
Today, I am recalling the attacks on America that occurred on September 11th, 2001. Despite the magnitude of those horrific events, despite the blood and the tears shed, we, for all intents and purposes, carried on (our subsequent actions in Iraq and elsewhere, however, have illustrated political opportunism in all its glory). London will carry on as well.
Having hooked myself up to a LiveJournal network of Londoners and other people interested in responding to and informing themselves about today’s events, I have witnessed acts of kindness, charity, and courage. People are rushing to give blood, to help house travelers stuck in London and not able to get home, to relay messages to loved ones abroad, and so on. My request to be on the lookout for my American friend was met with encouragement, well-wishing, and useful advice. Nobody is panicking, nobody is in hysterics. People are banding together and figuring out ways to help one another.
On a German website I read that a message from al-Qaeda was calling on Muslims “to rejoice.” Considering the fact that al-Jazeera is currently saying that a good number of Muslims may have been actually hurt and killed in the attacks, al-Qaeda’s latest stream of cowardly verbal diarrhea seems all the more asinine. These are the same people who think it’s perfectly Ok to take down innocent Muslim civilians in Iraq.
While I remain critical of certain American and British foreign policy decisions, these attacks have proved to me that kindness will find a way to survive, not just in places like London, but in the entire world.
The truth is, these attacks ultimately achieve nothing except satisfying the bloodlust of a few self-righteous monsters. They will not force people to bow down before their ridiculous ideology. If anything, they expose this ideology for what it is: a pastiche of utter rubbish, violent megalomania, and Quranic verses hijacked.
Way to go, Bin Laden & Co. You’ve just given the world one more reason to refuse to be dragged back to the Stone Age with your so-called “blessed operation.” With your filthy paws you can destroy people’s bodies, but, and here is a distinction you might appreciate, not their souls.
