5. On Terror

Hey, remember that time God flooded the earth to kill off all the sinners? Remember how well that turned out, eliminating sin and all that? Yeah, it's a similar intro than the last one, but it's a similar topic: terrorism (and, no, I didn't plan specifically to do this one at this time; there's a flow to all these posts, if you haven't yet seen it, and it has nothing to do with when they show up).

I'll try to keep this one short, because it has the same basic premise as the last post: you will not--will not--will not stop terrorism by "hunting down" all the world's terrorists. It simply will not happen. You can believe me now, or go ahead and try it, fail, and believe me later (although you won't admit to it, because this is a very emotionally charged issue, and nobody wants to admit to being wrong about it).

There are too many people who are out there who aren't terrorists but who are all too willing to believe the terrorists' ideals, and who are just a few steps away from becoming terrorists. There are too many people being born into terrorist families, being groomed in terrorist ways while they're still too young to think for themselves. You'll never kill them all. Never.

Just like God didn't stop sin by killing off all the world's sinners in the Great Flood.

Yes, I know that it's just a story and it didn't really happen, but I'm using it as a metaphor. Plus, some people do believe it, word-for-word, and my point will still stand: terrorism exists as an outlet for some people's fear and tendency towards violence. These, like the various tendencies towards sin and any proclivity towards doing "bad things," will not be purged from our species simply by killing the people that act on them it. Other people will lash out based on their fears, if not right away then later (and, obviously, unexpectedly). The only way to kill off the human race's problems is to kill off the human race.

So what's the real solution? That's a tough call, because, frankly, my solution to crime is a little too far-fetched. It involves people--probably you--caring about stuff that may never affect them. It involves people--definitely you--caring about other people they may never meet. It involves people--seriously, you--caring about anything at all. That's a lot to ask. So if we can't stop our own people from doing bad stuff to each other, how can we stop people from other countries doing bad stuff to our people? I'm not going to spell it out, because it involves a fundamental change in the way we--that is, you--see the world, other people, and ourselves. And if you're too lazy and stupid to figure out how to stop domestic crime, how can you expect to stop international crime?

For now, just know that nothing's going away until you get off your ass and do something.