ptalk > September 2001

My personal thoughts

I have received several emails suggesting putting a candle in your window, wearing red, white and blue; to express solidarity. I am doing both, but I had my own idea, which you can take for what it is worth.

I know we need to seek out and stop the people who were responsible for these crimes; we need to prevent them from further atrocities. But to my mind the best retribution the USA can inflict is to demonstrate to them and the world, just what President Bush said: you may shake the foundations of our buildings, but you will not shake the foundation of our country. We need to show them and the world that Freedom and Democracy (and the capitalist economy that they permit) are only strengthened by adversity. We need to carry on doing what we do, each our own little bit that makes this country what it is.

One freelance photographer who was interviewed on Tuesday because he happened to have footage of one of the attacks expressed a sentiment I agree with strongly. He called it an "act of ignorance", because the USA is the most enthicly, culturally, religiously diverse country in the world, with freedom and opportunity for everyone, these attacks were attacks on everyone, and misguided. In addition to preventing immediate future atrocities, we need to understand how people could form the misconception that Freedom and Democracy are their enemy, and educate and include them.

Let Freedom ring in our land of Liberty,

Tucker