SEVEN7 (Part 2): 911 Revisited

This rumination continues from yesterday's, hence I am titling it as a series:SEVEN7 -- Part 2.

I strolled through some other WEBlogs the past few days, and I left my footprints at one or two with a COMMENT when the post struck a chord with my sentiments on the subject of the London blasts. Briefly in summary, I must admit I did not suffer great "shock", as similarly written by several fellow bloggers, on the newsbreaks on the London bomb-blasts last Thursday. The only "surprise" was that it was so well-timed to take place in just 24 hours after London won the bid to host the Olmpic Games in the year 2012.

Why was there little shock around the world? Because many intelligence sources had already warned that London was a prime target of terrorists, as its PM Tony Blair did not appear too popular with his decision to ally himself with the United States President George W Bush in the latter's initiative in "taking the war against terror" into Iraq against United Nations' disapproval. It's because so much has flowed under the bridge since September 11, 2001.

About four years ago, I don't think the word "WEBlog" was in my vocabulary. I only really started blogging on March 15, 2005, which makes me an "infant" -- but this babe learnt that the INTERNET and the Blogging medium provide a range and breadth of views on any breaking news most swiftly, most spontaneously, and furiously too, and most effectively -- definitely not available from the conventional print newspapers.

And an individual's arriving at a consensus opinion of the "emotional" response is easily verified through his surfing the vast blogosphere on any current topic(applies to her as well, but I am not fe-mail, remember?). Yes, leaders throughout the world -- except for some who remained silent -- expressed their outrage, and condemned the use of violence; but the people in the street have mostly got weary and tired. They are increasingly confused by a war they could not see justice in, and the daily "suicide" bombings in major cities in Iraq fostered a creepingly acquired "immunity to be shocked". (I think this is analogous to the "immunity" acquired by a large section of Malaysians to be "shcoked" when scandals of corruption erupted from the 1990s since they became regular, increasing in quantum too of bllion of ringgit, while in the 1980s, there was ONLY ONE (the Bumiputra Malaysia Finance or BMF) of RM2.4billion such case!

As I wrote yesterday, I stayed "silent" for five days to ruminate over the London incident. I ws not shocked this time as I was on 9-11, 2001. The series of attacks, counter-attacks in the name of the "War on Terror" -- and hijacked by some parties, into a holy war("jihadist"), which did not help -- has wrought a slow, but sure, immunity to be "intensely and instantly shocked" anymore.

September 11, 2001, must surely rank as a landmark day in this relatively new millennium’s history – when the world was shaken to its core as helpless people watched “live” as well as through constant replays over television, two commercial aeroplanes allegedly commandeered by Muslim terrorists and used as “missiles” to crash into the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York, USA. Suddenly, we realise that the world has become a “very dangerous” dwelling place indeed, and even the United States, the sole superpower in the world, is as vulnerable as its poorer cousins in the African and Asian continents who hardly have enough rations to feed their people, what more having money to spend on weapons of mass destruction! We all woke up that day to experience what I think was the “rudest awakening” that possibly transformed our lives forever in the most dramatic way, and evoked in us all the whole range of human responses, including grief, shock, rage, despair and bewilderment.

This ruthless attack on humanity came “out of the blue” and certainly was beyond human imagination (initially some viewers thought the second airliner crashing into the WTC tower was an excerpt from the latest Hollywood blockbuster!), yet it was stark reality staring at us in our comfortable living room. This “creature” resembling a suicide bomber wrought by fellow human beings motivated by things beyond our ken and understanding to wreak carnage and havoc on human lives and dignity, so how do we begin to even comprehend and cope with a “new” world thrust upon us?

Yesterday I briefly referred to a Newtonian Law governing force and motion; here I reprise a poem I had composed and sent to an international poetry website set up within days of the terror attacks on the edifices of the US about four years ago.

Reflecting on Newton's Law

To every action
There is an equal and opposite reaction
Goes one of Newtonian laws
governing physical forces and motion

Extrapolating on Newton's law to human affairs
In light of the tragedy of Sept 11 morn
I fear that human response to
such horrendous attacks on humankind
Usually brings forth an opposite but often,
more than an equal, reaction,
Inflicting more, and spiralling, violence and tragedy on innocent ones

Borrowing Dylanesque wisdom while we're
adrift in this wind of confusion and sorrow
"When will they ever learn?", I say,
Leave the wrath of the Maker
To visit upon the actors of such cowardly acts.




The premise of my poem was that in human affairs in inflicting violence, usually the reaction is often greater than a reaction to physical force, creating a spiralling chain of increasingly more violent events. I firmly believe there was no way the U.S. could avoid following up with retaliatory action, as some reaction must follow such an attack on humanity. It was only a question of how and in what form the “reaction” (retaliation) would be, and for how long, to justify the objectives once the enemy has been identified and the objectives have been spelt out. My final premise of the poem was that finally, an end must come, and only God – in whatever form we perceive Him to be - can exact the just retribution on the perpetrators of the terror attacks.