“Eyes on the Future, What’s to be done? Need UNDERSTANDING to stand as one”

The title of this blog comes from a favorite song of mine by the indie mongrel rock group BROTHER (www.brothermusic.com) called “One Heart, One Soul.” On April 15, 2013, Boston Massachusetts, USA someone chose to make a statement with explosions at the sight of the Boston Marathon.  Already I see web chatter “Kill the Muslims they are responsible.” I wonder why is it when it comes to acts of terrorism whether domestic or foreign we look for someone to blame first?

Ever since September 11, 2001 Americans blame Muslims first. After all, wasn’t it Muslims that took out the twin towers, the pentagon and United Flight 93? Americans are cursed with collective short term memory loss. On April 19, 1995 Timothy Mc Veigh, an American, bombed Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. April 14, 1865: John Wilkes Booth committed an act of terrorism by assassinating President Lincoln.

Domestic terrorism is nothing new to the United States. The difference between the United States and countries like Somalia, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan is domestic terrorism is not a daily occurrence. There is a line from the show The West Wing from one of my favorite episodes Isaac and Ishmael which aired shortly after the September 11th attacks. “Well, what do you call a society that has to just live everyday with the idea that the pizza place you're eating in can just blow up without any warning?” “Israel.” 

As Americans we don’t feel we live in that kind society where domestic terrorism can happen. It’s always foreign acts of terrorism on American soil. We live in a kind of protective little bubble. The truth however, is that we do live in a society where domestic terrorism can and does happen. Sometimes, the domestic terrorism is on a large scale such as the Boston Marathon, the Oklahoma City bombing, Sandy Hook elementary, or the Aurora movie theater shootings. What we fail to realize is that domestic terrorism happens on a smaller scale every day. I can think of no better way to describe drive by shootings, gang violence, drug deals even domestic abuse. 

The late folk singer John Stewart once wrote in his song I remember America summed it up best when he said “I remember America/I remember my friends/I remember America/And I want to be safe again.” If we truly want to be safe again I think we need to start internally. Stop looking for who is to blame and instead keep our “Eyes on the Future, What’s to be done? Need UNDERSTANDING to stand as one.”