A MATTER OF SHOES

Four years ago when the list of hijackers of 9/11 was released and published in the newspaper, the letter from the head hijacker, Mohammed Atta, to his underlings was also printed. I read somewhat dispassionately the ravings of a dedicated Islamist and almost finished it when I saw something that I didn't expect and but what has stuck with me to this very day. Atta, toward the end of this diatribe, acquires a rather fatherly tone and instructs his followers to, "Make sure your shoes are tight."

These words just flew off the page and into my brain. What do shoes have to do with flying planes into buildings and killing people and killing yourself too!? It just didn't make sense to me. I wanted to hate this man so much and hate the guys that took it upon themselves to try to destroy our country, but there was this something that gave me such pause.

I know what Atta meant when he made this statement. Obviously, he didn't want anyone who was making for the cockpit to have to stop and tie his shoes, but there was just something to it, something human, something gentle, something refined, something incalculable.

But even as I despise their cowardly act, and hate what they represent, and hate what has happened to our world as a result of their act, I can't shake the words of this professorial statement, "Make sure your shoes are tight".

I want to view these guys as less than human, because it would be easier to hate them, to despise them and relish the thought that they are on their way to hell, but this one sentence prevents me from fully giving in to my emotional rage. It gives me pause. It makes me think. It stops the hate before it starts. I mean, they had mothers and fathers too. They had friends and sisters and jobs.
My goodness, they wore shoes!

RIOTING IN FRANCE - Any Surprise?

I'm not sure what the Powers of France expected to happen in a country where immigrants are allowed into the country who have no jobs and no interest in them and have more interest in smoking hashish than in being productive members of society. The only thing that these immigrants had to offer was a culture of distrust and reliance. They were very aware of France's outstretched hand and willingness to give anyone, including the enemies of Democracy, a place to live in subsidized or free housing, food and other elements of life. So, without trying to, France and most of Western Europe has become a breeding ground for youthful contempt and malcontent rebellion.

In France it is against the law for parents to spank their children. What should they expect then when their children have such an upper hand when parents are afraid of correcting their own kids for fear of arrest and imprisonment? These kids have no concept of what is right or wrong.

Just like their parents, these kids rely so much on the government for their jobs, their health, their education, that when they don't get exactly what they want they pitch a riotous fit.

Its taken a week of rioting before the Mayors of the towns in which the rioting is taking place before they called for a curfew. Its taken just a long before the use of tear gas has been authorized. What they are afraid of, hurting the kids feelings?

For a country so unwilling to take stands in the past, it shouldn't surprise us then that they have little clue what to do with swelling unrest and riot in their streets.

Maybe a good spanking would do. Oh wait, that's illegal!

HOW SERIOUS ARE WE IN CATCHING BIN LADEN?

This was a letter that I wrote to the editor ofthe Beaver County Times today. Its going to be published on Thursday.

11/07/05

HOW SERIOUS ARE WE IN CATCHING BIN LADEN?

Do we realize that our search for the number one enemy of the United States has taken longer than it took to win World War 2?

World War 2 required the deployment of millions of our troops, hundreds of thousands of pieces of equipment, battlefield strategies that would boggle the mind of Alexander the Great, and the destruction of the will to make war of all of the Axis powers over three continents, and yet we still find ourselves scratching our heads over the whereabouts of a single man.

Are we really that serious in finding this guy? Please!

Brian L. Carter, Ambridge, Pa