Thoughts on the murders of innocents.

First and foremost, my heart goes out to all of the victims and their families, I can only imagine the horror they are going to live with for the rest of their lives. Their grief is the same grief that others all over the world are suffering during these times of war and distress.

I am not going to speculate on why these individuals do what they do, I will state emphatically though that they are deeply disturbed. No one kills without some form of motive, we have killed innumerable innocents in the name of our nation, something where the motive is pretty obvious, greed and power. What these two people did is indeed horrific, as are all mass or single killings.

We have to be strong during these times and hold back our animosity. We must keep our fear in check and most assuredly, not sacrifice Liberty for a small sense of security. The reality is, as ugly as it seems, is that none of us are completely safe. At any given time something can happen that can put us in danger. Our mission at this time is to protect the innocent and not allow the Muslim community to take the burden of this latest attack.

It is possible to dislike an individual for what they do, but we can never fall down the hole where we blame an entire segment of our society for the acts of a few. Remaining alert to danger is a part of survival, however,I will never cower when I pass a mosque, a church or a synagogue or temple, nor will I cower in Boston Common, or at a parade or other public event. I have been trained to run into the gunfire, to take care of the situation, I've done this my entire life and will not break away from aiding people wherever and whenever I can. I believe most of us feel the same way, if we didn't, we would not be Veterans For Peace.

Within every populated square mile of this country, someone is out there capable of creating chaos, it is only when we face these crises we take away the power the individuals believe they have. To me, these attacks are done by cowards, never giving their victims the chance to confront them on even ground, shooting or blowing up their victims, (and often times themselves), will do little more than awaken the better angels of our nature.

Politicians and law enforcement will use the attacks to ramp up fear against our neighbors and fellow citizens, this should not be the case and we cannot allow this to happen. The strongest of us will not fail in helping the weak and voiceless. It is, because of our uniqueness, our responsibility to help calm the waters, to ensure that innocent people are not caught up in the hysteria.

I hope that all people remain safe, and further, I hope we end our wars of aggression where so many innocents have been killed. Stand up, speak out, make your congresscritters listen to you, and please, don't fall for the lies and "justifications" given by the ghouls of the GOP using this and so many other items as a wedge that divides us, we, as a nation, must come together and hold these people accountable.

We will get past this, no matter how painful and soul wrenching. No more killing.

Peace,

Bob