Post of the Day - Nomination
 

I nominate the following (from 4me2no) as Post of the Day today :

I have waited a few days before posting anything anywhere about the tragedy that happened. To all the victims and their families, their friends, their colleagues - I send my sincerest and deepest condolences.
There is nothing more that I can add to express any more sorrow than has already been said countless times, far more eloquently than I can muster.

However, I will say this - no amount of anger or wrath or racial hatred is going to prevent this from happening again. No amount of killing or bloodshed or violence is going to stop more destruction. You do not fight fire with fire... you fight fire with water. This is a time for cool heads to prevail, not for fiery blood.

I am not advocating peace - action *must* be taken - and rest assured that Australia, along with the rest of the free world, will stand united alongside America to hunt down and bring these evil *******s to justice. I would even pull the trigger myself, if I could.

However, I will *not* pull the trigger on the innocent people who happen to have the same skin colour as the perceived perpertrators.

I will *not* forget that it is racial intolerance that has caused these problems in the first place.

I will *not* explode my wrath on those whom I want to be guilty, but save it for those who ARE guilty.

I will *not* forget the lessons of the past, and therefore be condemned to repeat them.

America has produced some of the greatest leaders the world has known - and one of the greatest, Martin Luther King summed up the lesson perfectly - "I have a dream... a dream that my four children will live in a world where they are judged not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character"

The American or Australian or British or European citizen, who happens to be of middle eastern descent, is *not* your enemy. The muslim colleague that you worked with, and joked with last week is *not* your enemy. The children who attend the local islamic school in your community is *not* your enemy.

Your enemy are those who have perpetrated this foul and vicious crime, those who aid those perpetrators, and those who advocate violence and the destruction of innocents.

You did not destroy or bomb Timothy McVeigh's neighbours, and friends, or city for the terrible crime he committed. Likewise, do not villify those who happen to be muslim. Those who are guilty *must* be punished to the fullest extent, those who are innocent should not suffer - otherwise, we are just performing the same low acts that have made us suffer today.

The world became a much uglier, colder, darker, and horrible place this week, and my grief knows no bounds for what has happened.

We can either make it uglier, colder, darker and horrible, or we can do what we can as individuals, as groups, as nations, and as a world, to try and make things better.

What decision will you make?

Thank you for listening to my rant, and god bless.

TomCayman, thank you for bringing this thread to our attention. It expresses, I suspect, the sentiment many people on this board share. I certainly do.

4me2no, thank you for sharing your thoughts with us so eloquently.

At the end of this all, we're still a community with close, strong ties and common interests. It'd be a shame if we couldn't put aside any of our differences and stay that way.

The nicest thing about this board is that we're treated as equals, not on the basis of race or creed, but the strength of our characters.