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<From: "Aryana Ferguson" <To: DCHinks@hotmail.com, ren4@mindspring.com, sandhill@swcp.com, WHinksJr@aol.com, sandm@javanet.com, vjPima@aol.com, ZoeJess@aol.com, leah496@home.com, drew22@teleport.com, BDHasson@aol.com, newhouse@efn.org, cferguson1@uswest.net, schultz@nceas.ucsb.edu, Starlight0221@hotmail.com, davek7@earthlink.net, grantoregonrains@hotmail.com, dfly888@hotmail.com, hobbsj@efn.org, kpearl@teleport.com, velok1@hotmail.com, hyland@pond.net, springs@teleport.com, mar_c@efn.org, Maria.mendola@tmcaz.com, clickbeetle@earthlink.net, cfg@mail.teleport.com, phil@ori.org, rmorse@OREGON.UOREGON.EDU, rhodyh@oslc.org, rrrob@raidersfan.net, ronald@guppy.pond.net, landstew@hotmail.com, tom-bev9@juno.com, Mendola1@aol.com, pags@efn.org <Subject: Fwd: Barbara Kingsolver's piece in the LA TIMES <Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2001 19:52:25 < < < Hi all: Some food for the mind and soul. Love, A < < < < < < < Published on Sunday, September 23, 2001 in the Los Angeles Times << < <A Pure, High Note of Anguish << < <by Barbara Kingsolver < << < <TUCSON -- I want to do something to help right now. But I can't <<give << < <blood (my hematocrit always runs too low), and I'm too far way <<to << < give << < <anybody shelter or a drink of water. I can only give words. My <<verbal << < <hemoglobin never seems to wane, so words are what I'll offer up <<in << < <this << < <time that asks of us the best citizenship we've ever mustered. <<I << < don't << < <mean to say I have a cure. Answers to the main questions of the << < <day--Where was that fourth plane headed? How did they get <<knives << < <through << < <security?--I don't know any of that. I have some answers, but <<only to << < <the questions nobody is asking right now but my 5-year old. Why <<did << < <all << < <those people die when they didn't do anything wrong? Will it <<happen << < to << < <me? Is this the worst thing that's ever happened? Who were <<those << < <children cheering that they showed for just a minute, and why <<were << < <they << < <glad? Please, will this ever, ever happen to me? << < <There are so many answers, and none: It is desperately painful <<to see << < <people die without having done anything to deserve it, and yet <<this << < is << < <how lives end nearly always. We get old or we don't, we get <<cancer, << < we << < <starve, we are battered, we get on a plane thinking we're going <<home << < <but << < <never make it. There are blessings and wonders and horrific bad <<luck << < <and << < <no guarantees. We like to pretend life is different from that, <<more << < <like << < <a game we can actually win with the right strategy, but it <<isn't. << < And, << < <yes, it's the worst thing that's happened, but only this week. <<Two << < <years << < <ago, an earthquake in Turkey killed 17,000 people in a day, <<babies << < and << < <mothers and businessmen, and not one of them did a thing to <<cause it. << < <The November before that, a hurricane hit Honduras and <<Nicaragua and << < <killed even more, buried whole villages and erased family lines <<and << < <even << < <now, people wake up there empty-handed. Which end of the world <<shall << < <we << < <talk about? Sixty years ago, Japanese airplanes bombed Navy <<boys who << < <were sleeping on ships in gentle Pacific waters. Three and a <<half << < <years << < <later, American planes bombed a plaza in Japan where men and <<women << < <were << < <going to work, where schoolchildren were playing, and more <<humans << < died << < <at once than anyone thought possible. Seventy thousand in a <<minute. << < <Imagine. Then twice that many more, slowly, from the inside. << < < << < <There are no worst days, it seems. Ten years ago, early on a <<January << < <morning, bombs rained down from the sky and caused great <<buildings in << < <the city of Baghdad to fall down--hotels, hospitals, palaces, << < <buildings << < <with mothers and soldiers inside--and here in the place I want <<to << < love << < <best, I had to watch people cheering about it. In Baghdad, <<survivors << < <shook their fists at the sky and said the word "evil." When <<many << < lives << < <are lost all at once, people gather together and say words like << < <"heinous" and "honor" and "revenge," presuming to make this <<awful << < <moment << < <stand apart somehow from the ways people die a little each day <<from << < <sickness or hunger. They raise up their compatriots' lives to a << < sacred << < <place--we do this, all of us who are human--thinking our own <<citizens << < <to << < <be more worthy of grief and less willingly risked than lives on <<other << < <soil. But broken hearts are not mended in this ceremony, <<because, << < <really, every life that ends is utterly its own event--and also <<in << < <some << < <way it's the same as all others, a light going out that ached <<to burn << < <longer. Even if you never had the chance to love the light <<that's << < <gone, << < <you miss it. You should. You bear this world and everything <<that's << < <wrong << < <with it by holding life still precious, each time, and starting <<over. << < < << < <And those children dancing in the street? That is the hardest << < <question. << < <We would rather discuss trails of evidence and whom to stamp <<out, << < even << < <the size and shape of the cage we might put ourselves in to <<stay << < safe, << < <than to mention the fact that our nation is not universally <<beloved; << < <we << < <are also despised. And not just by "The Terrorist," that lone, << < <deranged << < <non-man in a bad photograph whose opinion we can clearly <<dismiss, but << < <by << < <ordinary people in many lands. Even by little boys--whole towns <<full << < <of << < <them it looked like--jumping for joy in school shoes and pilled << < woolen << < <sweaters. << < < << < <There are a hundred ways to be a good citizen, and one of them <<is to << < <look finally at the things we don't want to see. In a week of << < <terrifying << < <events, here is one awful, true thing that hasn't much been << < mentioned: << < <Some people believe our country needed to learn how to hurt in <<this << < <new << < <way. This is such a large lesson, so hatefully, wrongfully <<taught, << < but << < <many people before us have learned honest truths from wrongful << < deaths. << < <It still may be within our capacity of mercy to say this much <<is << < true: << < <We didn't really understand how it felt when citizens were <<buried << < <alive << < <in Turkey or Nicaragua or Hiroshima. Or that night in Baghdad. <<And we << < <haven't cared enough for the particular brothers and mothers <<taken << < <down << < <a limb or a life at a time, for such a span of years that those << < <little, << < <briefly jubilant boys have grown up with twisted hearts. How <<could we << < <keep raining down bombs and selling weapons, if we had? How can <<our << < <president still use that word "attack" so casually, like a move <<in a << < <checker game, now that we have awakened to see that word in our <<own << < <newspapers, used like this: Attack on America. << < < << < <Surely, the whole world grieves for us right now. And surely it <<also << < <hopes we might have learned, from the taste of our own blood, <<that << < <every << < <war is both won and lost, and that loss is a pure, high note of << < <anguish << < <like a mother singing to any empty bed. The mortal citizens of <<a << < <planet << < <are praying right now that we will bear in mind, better than <<ever << < <before, that no kind of bomb ever built will extinguish hatred. << < < << < <"Will this happen to me?" is the wrong question, I'm sad to <<say. It << < <always was. << < < << < <Barbara Kingsolver's most recent novel is "Prodigal Summer." << < < << < <Copyright 2001 Los Angeles Times << < <-- << < < << < < << < <??????????????????????????????????????????? << < <The Eighth Mountain Press << < <624 SE 29th Avenue << < <Portland, OR 97214 << < <503/233-3936 << < <503/233-0774 (fax) << < <eighthmt@pacifier.com << < < << < < << < < << < < << < <------ End of Forwarded Message << < << < << < Kerry Case << < Environmental Studies Program << < University of Oregon << < kcase@darkwing.uoregon.edu << < << < Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
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