The City #15

On Tuesday, two days ago, we had to evacuate our building. This was not a drill, however, but the real thing. As we made our way to the common meeting spot, we found out way we had to leave. There was an unattended suitcase left on the sidewalk in front of the building. The police evacuated about a three block radius around the suspect suitcase.
We spent about an hour or a bit less and it all ended up to be much ado about nothing. As one of the cops said when asked what was going on, “New York post 911.” I guess they do have to be vigilant. When, however, we honestly come to the point when all of “normal” life is disrupted and our responses and reactions are borne of paranoia, free, and distrust they have won.
I recently heard a guy, an expert in something or another, talking about our reaction to terror threats. He said that our best response would be to get back to normal as quickly as possible after an attack. “Terror” as a weapon of choice would soon stop being an effective way to force opponents to bend to terrorists’ demands.
We will not win this thing through force, no matter what the neo-hawks on Capital Hill or the White House seem to insist upon. Diplomacy will not stop this sort of thing, either, although in the long run it is the best path to pursue. The “true believers in the cause” will stop at nothing. If, however, they realize that terrorism will not force a society, a people, a system into submission, they will turn to other means (perhaps more terrible, perhaps for civilized).
In the City, we played our little part this week. To what end?