Of mice and men

It has been over a year since the attacks on london. I didnt post anything about it at the time cos there was just too much stuff about it on the news and everywhere.

I thought of not posting altogether and as can be seen, i decided against that.

52 people died and many more were injured. I wasnt anywhere near the attacks and no one i know was in great danger from the attacks.

There was a two minutes silence across london in honour of the dead - i think. Just like last year, word went out to observe the 2 minutes outside in some sort of defiance to the terrorists groups. I didnt go outside to observe the 2 minutes silence. I stayed at my desk while pretty much everyone else went outside. Two things:

1) The prayers i said would have been no more effective if i had been outside.

2) It is easy to appear defiant when you really have no idea what it means.

Tony Blair recently said that the invasion of Iraq has nothing to do with future terrorist attacks.

Before the invasion of Iraq, the same Tony Blair said "we are willing to pay the blood price". He was said to be a strong leader showing strength in the face of the tyrant saddam. Once again, it is easy to appear strong when all you have to do is say words, when none of your sons is going to be dodging bullets, when you have MI-5 and other secret organisations protecting you.

July 7 2005 was the blood price Tony Blair was talking about. I and a lot of people i know werent ready to pay the blood price. As a matter of fact i was in full support of the march and protest in Hyde park before the war. The biggest demonstrations london had ever seen and Tony Blair ignored it.

His ignorance of the people was portrayed as him being a strong leader willing to make difficult decisions. After the attacks we were to go outside to show our defiance. So easy to speak of things when you have no concept of it.

I grew up in another part of the world. In what some refer to as a third world country. At the time there was nothing third world about it and there still isn't. It's a beautiful country with a lot of weird and wonderful things as well as some crap things.

However life there was and still is different from what it is here in the west. There defiance isnt standing outside a building for 2 minutes.

Growing up, sometimes i literally had to fight to eat, to protect what was mine, to get a drink of water when things were really bad. If you really want water to wash or drink, then you know where the stream is. The only problem was the crocodiles thought of it as their domain so one had to be careful.
The point is i have lived a very different life to that which i live right now. There are millions of people living like i did and worse. These people know all about defiance and strength. And it most ceratinly is not standing outside for a few minutes nor is it talking tough while riding around in bulletproof cars and protected by MI-5.

There is nothing wrong with honouring the dead, there is everything wrong with the media circus it turned into.

My condolences to the families of those affected and the victims themselves. Sincerely.

Tony Blair got it wrong bigtime. The foreign policies of western powers have a direct effect on people in other parts of the world. A lot of the time, these effects aren't positive. A lot of the people in those countries are very angry and dont see things the way we see them. For us in the west not to realise them or pretend that this isnt the case is immensely foolish.

Regardless of Tony Blair's actions, blowing innocent people up is wrong. It was ever thus and forever shall be so. Blowing people up is not likely to solve anything. It will merely ensure both sides remain entrenched in their own little camps and seek death and destruction as a solution.
If the aim is to resolve issues brought about by our goverenments foreign policies then bombing london, new york, spain wont achieve that. If the aim is to blow us all up cos we are infidels (last time i checked i didnt classify as an infidel and if someone feels i do i'd like them to explain to me just how it is that i have managed to qualify as one) then i would recommend reading the quran again.
Islam is supposed to be a peaceful religion and does not approve of the killing of innocents.

Those who died were innocents. That is one thing we are guaranteed in all this. The death of innocents.


In the end it seems we humans wont stop till we have wiped ourselves off the face of the earth. If that should happen then the irony will be too ridiculous. Evolved over many many years just to destroy ourselves. Should that happen we all know what species will inherit the earth.

Rats.