When a cell stops growing, it starts dying. When a society starts killing each other for one reason or another, it dies in full circle. Those who committed mass-killing should remain nameless, not glamorized nor immortalized. They should cease to exist, on or off-line. Forgotten and deleted. On the other hand, innocent victims’ are and should remain known forever.
I am ready to take a bullet any time, to fight “in the shade” (to re-use a line in “300”) for similar victims, same way as the Muslim-mosque usher in New Zealand. He did not simply say: “Welcome my brother” like a Walmart greeter. He gave all he had, namely his own body, to be shield so others can fight “in the shade”.
In my Vietnam days, I could still name a few who gave their body- parts or the whole- after being enlisted: Cuong, my classmate; Phuoc, my next-door neighbor; Uncle Ban – my flesh and blood relative and cousin Ba whose face got deformed.
War is ugly. Killing is ugly. Dying is inevitable but we would prefer for death to come naturally, not by force. When a society stops growing, it eats itself. Wait until the machine wages war. Its payload – as in any war, 4 out of 1 are dedicated to supporting combat troops – will be huge. So will its toll: where else could machine look to do damage besides the environment and us who created them.
This may sound like being on the verge of insanity. But you and I have both spent our money on movies like The Terminator (whose principal actor insanely turned Governor.) Let’s face it! We are all guilty of complicity: by being silent when Hitler slammed on the map (Europe) or when his cohorts and co-conspirators hit the Mosques and churches all over America and New Zealand.
“Welcome brother” to a world of peace. Let’s “bed-in” (in reference to John and Yoko – 50 years ago). Let’s “imagine”. Let’s” think different”. In the absence of wise men and courageous women, insanity rules. By then, it will be too late for many whose deaths are quite preventable.
Thang Nguyen 555 