On 9/11, citizens of an enemy country, Iran, stood in their streets in the dark holding candles of compassion.
In Paris, a huge American flag was laid down like a red carpet leading to the Eiffel Tower, soldiers standing at attention on both sides.
On Friday the 13th of November--is this symbolic of Christ's Last Supper, a Passover seder, thus a symbol of Judaeo-Christian culture--Paris was attacked by ISIS. Four corners of the beautiful city that embodies the best of Western culture were bombed, the blood of human happiness and enjoyment smeared on its sidewalks.
We all became Parisians.
Once again, the melody of Western culture has been mocked for celebrating life despite the carnage surrounding it.
What shall we be doing? We were taking a brief vacation from fear, from the vast human suffering surrounding us, even as we open our doors to some of its victims while others drown.
If we are all Parisians, we should remember, too, that we all are Syrians, clinging to the joy that is the heritage of the Free World while we look toward a murky gray future if ISIS has its way.
The chains of fear are tightening around us. Air traffic to business or pleasure sites will be even more difficult as more checks and delays hold us up from work and play. A new normal set in after 9/11. On Friday November 13th, a newer one replaced it. Each smile will be accompanied by dread. Bombs could drop and explode any minute. Do the danse macabre with life. Eat, drink, be merry, and suffer with those already victimized by a dreaded future ISIS wishes on all of us.
Who will win? Suffering by the innocent seems to encompass all victories in war. But where it is the ultimate weapon, our challenge is to vanquish it, as it has always been. And the soldiers who fight our battles are innocent carnage also.
Peace is the answer. Human nature our ultimate foe. Human nature unbalanced to the side of the Ultimate Evil--the Antichrist? It is the New Millennium. Will humankind survive even its first century?
Will humankind survive itself in the next hundred years? What ISIS is doing on the battlefield that the world has become, we are doing to ourselves, our own environment, our own ecosystem.
One answer is comparatively easy to fix. Combat climate change. The other seems impossible, challenging science even more. We imprison murderers, one at a time. To sentence ISIS to life in prison--or the capital punishment they are visiting on us--or to bless them with the joys and evils, 50-50, of Western culture, eludes us. Why?
William Butler Years wrote that Jesus Christ will return as the Anti-Christ.
ISIS has declared war on everyone and everything. We are too stupid to understand how to wage peace. Too hooked on war as the answer.
And who gave birth to ISIS? Stupidity. Who will vanquish ISIS? Intelligence?
We have to discover that and activate it. Not enough people will realize that.
Will prayer help? Perhaps that's all we can do. If we can't bring about the promised land, we'll have to pray for the revival of its promise.
Whose prayers will be answered?
(Article changed on November 15, 2015 at 13:25)
Marta Steele is an author/editor/blogger who has been writing for Opednews.com since 2006. She is also author of the 2012 book "Grassroots, Geeks, Pros, and Pols: The Election Integrity Movement's Nonstop Battle to Win Back the People's Vote, (more...)