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July 28, 2005
Choices
Its hard for me to even begin talking about the realities of living in the UK under the current political situation. Compared to so many people my personal experience is such a small, even trivial thing. The other side of this is that for the first time in my life terror attacks have been a personal experience.
I can remember vividly where I was and what i was doing on September 11. I was with cousins in Victoria and got up to them playing the radio coverage of the attacks. When they had to turn attention elsewhere I moved down stairs to watch the coverage on tv. For the next several days it was the focus of my life. I know the images of that day will be with me for life.
The London bombings are in many ways harder for me to process. I wasn’t on the far side of the continent. Due to some miscalculations on my part and delays in Copenhagen I missed my flight from London to Edinburgh. I was lucky and was fit onto a later flight instead of having to overnight and leave the next day. I might very well have caught the train had I needed to overnight. Instead my plain left London at about 9:30 pm, roughly 12 hours ahead of the attacks.
Even now, a month later its hard to process. In hind sight it seems like such a small thing that made the difference. A helpful agent from the airline got me on a plane. I wonder at the little things that combine to make such bid differences. I don’t believe in chance per se. f I use the word it tends to mean in my thinking the combination of choices many people have made that result in an unpredictable outcome. I wonder a great deal at the combination of choices that were at play in those attacks.
When I witness tragedy, be it close at hand or more remotely the issue of choice plays a major role. I do not believe in a God who causes these things. To understand why bad things happen to good people I look to the idea of choice. In order for people to have free choice they must be able to chose even horrific options. Otherwise it isn’t really choice. Of all the gifts of what it is to be human, free choice is one of the greatest in my eye. I might even say it is the defining gift. It is wonderful and it is awful. Welcome to being human.
Posted by Bluerevolutionist at July 28, 2005 08:49 PM
Comments
Just so ya know, I AM reading your weblog, and checking it regularly for updates. Which is not to say you MUST update, but that if you did, you wouldn't be writing to the empty void.
Hope you're doing well. Get Anna to take more pictures of you with her digicam, as proof that she hasn't hidden you in a closet anywhere, kay?
Posted by: Raven at August 4, 2005 05:45 PM