For those of you who weren’t aware my strange and random neighborhood transformed to be strange and tragic.

It’s unfortunately common that the innocent die, but it gravely disturbing when those are almost certainly out of the fray become a casualty. When you think of a place that is target Seattle isn’t a big one, but it is still a city, and plenty of places with large crowds and congestion, but it doesn’t stand out too much from other cities to people who have never been here.

One viewpoint I hear people say is that anything the government does that starts with “The War on…” is doomed to failure (i.e. “The War on Drugs) which is something I can agree with. The War on Terror is a failure. You can not fight terror by “toppelin’ regimes” or “spreadin’ freeduhm”. The armies of terrorism are not organizations or governments; they are individuals who share common beliefs, people who want to destroy with what resources they have available. A traditional army consists of soldiers who “just do their job”, serve their country, they are lead by leaders. In traditional army you can fight the war without having to believe in the cause. Terrorists believe in the cause.

I guess what I am saying is that you cannot fight individuals with armies, but you can change policy. You can change the policy that let determines that foreign power will dictate the future of their homeland, and that the killing of their countrymen and families are in their best interesting … so they can enjoy “demmockracee an’ libertee”.

Seattle might have been normal if they had not vetoed a cease-fire from Israel. But why get them to stop the war? They can do our dirty work!

Friday was a weird day. I woke up earlier for some reason, and none of my friends were around. For hours I felt very alone and then napped. Waking up, then walking by the lounge my friend Jackie pulls me into the lounge.

“Do you know where Taylor is?” She asks. “She’s with her mom” I respond. Seeing the anxiety in her face I ask “what’s going on?”. Leading me to the TV she says “Welcome to 3rd and Lenora” and I watch.

It was news about a shooting … people had been shot near the other dormitory building; the Lenora, and the police were combing the area. The gunmen was caught but there was fear over another. It seemed at first to be nothing but an escalated street-fight.

The actuality we later learned was that a Pakistani man angry at Israel made his way in the Jewish Federation building (2 blocks from my apartment) shot and killed 1 lady and wounded 5 other women. Fortunately the police caught him and he’ll face justice.

It was surreal to have something that important going on outside our doors. The picture above has a lady being interviewed on my block … a dozen yards from my bedroom. The outside of this tragedy shown on TV was what we saw as we stepped outside.

People’s reactions were, well … interesting. I understood those who were lighthearted durring this time, but some were just flat-out disrespectful … like this was entertainment.

The more I knew about the situation the more in caused me to feel uncomfortable, and I felt even more alone.

In the aftermath I walked around to grasp what had happened. People were outside, but everyone sort of stood there.

I got closer to the tape than before … something told me that it was the right thing to do give some extra space while the event was still taking place. The small building on the right in the above picture is the Jewish Federation. Not much stands out about it.

The picture shows how close it was to home … my brown building is in the distance and in the center of the picture.

Now the police tape just envelopes the Federation door, however there is some that still litters some places. People have gone back to normal: people are shopping, walking around, the crack heads are yelling as usual, and the drunken hipsters prowl in the evening.

Something today showed me people really desire peace … only a few blocks from the shooting was the Sea Fair parade, and there was a sense that it was an important thing to see.

This is what the city needed.

Posted in News, Political |

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