We have only two questions: who and why?
We now know who (perhaps only partially). Now we want to know why. Why?!
These two brothers whose origins reach back to Chechnya, what did they hope to accomplish?
It is more than a question of “what makes them tick.” Motive explains so much. Knowing why provides the fulcrum on which perspective is built, helping us make sense of nonsense. Nonsense = something that has no meaning, absurd, without reason or significance. We need to understand, and understanding comes from grasping one’s purpose and intent. So we have to ask: why did these two brothers choose to deliberately and literally rip apart individuals, killing an innocent child, mutilating unsuspecting bystanders?
Again it leads us to the overarching question of subjective belief, ideology, world-view, faith and conviction and experience. After all, those who knew these two brothers say that these brothers pretty much lived and acted as if they were one of us, fellow Americans. Little did we know. Apparently they did not buy into the American Way, that is, the American world-view of equality, the pursuit of happiness (materialism) and justice and liberty for all. Why didn’t they? Why did they resist assimilation? Why did they refuse to accept all that is good about US? That’s also what we’re now wondering; now that we actually do know the perpetrators.
Before they identified the perpetrators, I was thinking to myself: “These terrorists, whoever they may be, are so arrogant and pompous and full of themselves. They believe that their cause, whatever it is, justifies the cold-blooded murder of anyone, even children. They believe that life is cheap; so cheap that a life can be used and expended as a political statement. They are coldly calculating, hateful, and spiteful; despising all but those they call their own. They have a holier-than-thou, us-versus-them mentality, and they are vicious in their self-centered, self-serving, and self-propagating outlook on life. In short, they are self-righteous hypocrites.”
Yes, that’s what I was thinking. Here’s what else I was thinking:
“All terrorists, of whatever cause or persuasion, claim to espouse great and mighty causes, but will use the lowest and meanest tactics to promote them. For example, they may claim to be high and mighty in their desire for justice but will use any evil means to sustain their own idea of it. They’ll claim that their end-goal is the greatest and highest to be achieved, and yet will use the lowest and dirtiest pathway to pursue it. In short, they are Hypocrites! They are contemptuous small, tiresome, loathsome little souls, with shriveled hearts and darkened spirits. They represent what is the worst in human nature and character.”
These were my thoughts, before I knew who the perpetrators were.
And, as I thought these things, I prayed, “Lord, forgive me for my harsh and judging spirit, condemning these poor and darkened souls as I do. Have mercy upon them, for they are most to be pitied when they face your judgment, should they never repent of their evil and foul ways.”
Then a more troubling consideration came to mind.
What if, just what if my depiction of terrorists is the same depiction terrorists have of Americans? What if they see us Americans as also being arrogant and pompous and full of ourselves, coldly calculating, having a holier-than-thou, us-versus-them mentality, with a self-centered, self-serving, and self-propagating outlook on life. Would there be some justification of their having such a view of us?
Are we also guilty, as a nation, of claiming to espouse great and mighty causes, but willing to use the lowest and meanest tactics to promote them? Might we not also be guilty of claiming to be high and mighty in our desire for justice but willing to use any evil means to sustain our own idea of it. Is it possible that we too have claimed that our end-goal is the greatest and highest to be achieved, and yet have used the lowest and dirtiest pathway to pursue it? I’m just asking.
In short, is it possible that they also have some justifiable reason to see us as self-righteous Hypocrites! After all, if they too see us as “contemptuous small, tiresome, loathsome little souls, with shriveled hearts and darkened spirits,” it would explain a lot. Wouldn’t it?
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