h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What a day.

So sad for the people of London. Such an old city, having seen and survived so much, will pick itself up again. One wonders how the people will fare, how attitudes and outlooks may be affected, if there will be political shift as a result of today's events.

One American man commented that this was the UK's 9/11, almost in recognition of a sad badge of honor worn by those in the global terror victims club. Nobody wants to be a member of that club. Once you are one, though, it becomes a point around which people rally, a point almost of pride, and certainly galvanizes people for the cause of peace. Now, there is a reason to be unified against terror. The pain has been brought home, you are a member of that lot of people who have a noble excuse for action, anger, unguarded patriotism, indignation, and solidarity.

I am not glad that such times as these have their place in the UK's history; rather, I wish it were that somehow in the past 4 years we had managed to prevent these things from happening. Still, I can't help but hope that more people will wake up to the danger of remaining passive, neutral, or resigned about terrorism. This proves that bombings can happen anywhere, take the lives of people close to you, and ignoring or minimizing the seriousness of terrorists or their threats is undertaken at a great cost.

I will be the first to admit complacency. I often go about my day ignoring war and suffering because it does not touch me. I consume myself with the minutia of daily life with hardly a thought to global matters. Frankly, when I do think of it I become overwhelmed and distraught. Detachment is a useful defense mechanism, and one of the ways we can go on living in spite of the terrorist aims to frighten and confuse us. Still, over-detachment can lead to denial or a heart hardening that keeps us from working diligently for change.

We are far too apt to be easily lulled into false security. Tragedies are the wake-up call that no one asks for, everyone regrets, yet remains a turning point in developing neccessary personal conviction. Someday, though our losses are great, we will look back with circumspection and be thankful for what good may come out of such pain. It is but little consolation for those who have lost friends, spouses, children, siblings, cousins, parents, and fellow city-dwellers...