An afterthought

Actually, it was more of a forethought, as in…before the incident happened. But I’ve been too busy to say this until now.

A couple of days before Christmas, I was out doing some necessary shopping, and I noticed (I mean, really took note of) all these people buzzing around the mall and carrying lots of bags and swiping lots of credit cards and talking excitedly about how close to being ‘done’ they were with their list of gifts. The thought struck me quietly about how secure everyone seems to feel and happy to go about all their holiday whirl of activities, and how unlikely that anyone thought about that state of security we enjoy. It sounds odd, I know, but I thought about the fact that we haven’t been struck by terrorism personally in many years now, and that as long as we have access to the malls and the ATMs and the fast delivery of our every need, we’re not going to think about looming threats from seemingly far away.

Or those who keep looming threats far away.

Then, the other day, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Pakistan (which is still jarring to realize) and terrorism became very real again. Did it have immediacy to the West? Definitely, but most people probably didn’t realize that.

CNN aired a compelling documentary by reporter Nic Robertson a few days ago called ‘Pakistan: Terror Central’, that lined up a lot of dots and connected them menacingly (I couldn’t quickly find it on CNN’s site, but there are clips on YouTube).

We can’t and shouldn’t live in fear. But we must be well informed. Especially with these presidential primaries about to start up. Some candidates campaign in soundbites that don’t seem to square with more probing truths of geopolitics.

I don’t have a favorite candidate yet. But whoever succeeds the current president will be tasked with keeping America as safe from terrorists as the current administration has, however they may do it.

So people can go about their lives without unimaginable harm.