It has been two days since the anniversary of the Bali Bombing. Outside of Bali, Australia, and Britain, it doesn't appear that much of an event has been made of the day. Considering that it was the second deadliest terrorist action since the attack on America in September of 2001, and was brought to you by the same organisation, one might think that the Yanks would make some sort of gesture, if only to improve public opinion regarding the Occupation of Iraq.
Most people will agree that the acknowledgement of some other person's tragedy, whether he is a friend, a brother, a neighbor, or someone you just met, is at the very least in good taste. And considering that both sets of innocent people were killed by the same organisation, the common bond involved would warrant at least a phone call one year down the road.
I'm sure the teeming masses of readers are just all ate up with curiosity where I am going with this. On the surface, it began as just an upbraiding of the US. "Shame on the US," I thought, "for expecting the world to don sackcloth and ashes for years when tragedy strikes on American soil, but not even having the time of day for the anniversary of such a thing done to one of it's allies."
But, of course, nothing stops at the surface here. After the initial reaction, I had to ask myself another question.
"Well, E., what is the appropriate action in this case?"
I ask myself pretty good questions, although I have to admit I don't really call myself "E." during these conversations.
So I had a debate over it for a while. Western society, of which I am a part, doesn't spend a lot of effort on dead people, for the most part. No one, for example, sets aside a day of rememberance for Mahatma Ghandi, Dr. Martin Luther King, or Steven Biko on the anniversary of their deaths. As a matter of fact, just about the only historical figure that does get a day of remembrance of His death is the Christ, and that isn't so much for the death, but the Resurrection.
So we've established that we don't like to remember when people were killed. Thousands of years of ingrained fear and discomfort with the idea of death aren't going to be changed because I said so, even if I were Secretary General of the United Nations (there's another possibility you can cross of your lists, if you are still interested in my identity by process of elimination). I suppose the point I needed to get to was that American's are probably not, as a whole, marking these anniversaries in order to honor the fallen. Were this the case, they wouldn't spend Memorial Day shopping and picnicing. What they appear to be doing, unfortunately, is keeping the rage going.
I will admin that I got misty-eyed the first time I heard Darryl Worley sing "Have You Forgotten". I will confess that I nearly wept openly as I stood among the Coalition Forces and sang that song together with them, just after a reading of that week's dead and wounded. But the remembrances of the Americans I know, for the most part, do not bring to mind Requiescat in pace so much as Nemo Me Impune Lacessit.
This is not a repudiation of the Coalition Occupation of Iraq. My feelings on that will wait for another day, as I have gone on long enough already. It is merely an observation, at this point, that a government cannot keep even the most righteous war going for much longer than it can keep the populace angry at the enemy.