can we all just agree that there is no excuse for violence?

today is september 11. you know. i don't have to remind you. bush is talking about it to justify the war and to justify torturing people.

republicans are talking about it to try to win some elections.

democrats, as usual, couldn't come up with a coherent, compelling, and concise statement on anything if their lives depended on it. thanks, guys.

but i'm talking about it because it was a tragedy. and—this might be hard—the 3,000 people who died, sons, daughters, all, some mommies and daddies, best friends, secret crushes, first kisses, husbands, wives, cute neighbors, excellent babysitters, the girl with the awesome shoes, the boy with the gorgeous crooked smile, the woman who never smiled, the man with the goofy ties...though each a precious child of god or the universe or just two other people...they were no better or worse than any of the people who have died since as part of the united states' plan for retribution. right now, at 1:34 am on september 11, between 41,650 and 46,318 civilians have been reported killed by the war in iraq. 41,650, if you want to take the low estimate. versus 3,000. and did it bring them back, those 3,000? and what about afghanistan? and the soldiers, on both sides, all sides?

iraqis, afghanis, americans, we all love our kids. and our families. and our friends. and our lovers. there are differences that people seize upon, to try to divide us, and differences that we ourselves might be hung up on: some of us look different, they talk funny, we don't understand islam, they live so far away it's almost like they don't actually exist because we've never seen them and we are unlikely to ever see them and since we live in america, we are often priviledged enough to pretend like it isn't happening, but today is yet another ripe opportunity to make a commitment to yourself and your humanity and this world and all of the kids and the future, and to make a commitment to rejecting violent solutions.

don't write me off as one of those infuriating people who insists, ostrich-style, that there are no dangers in the world. the united states has enemies, certainly (in many cases, not entirely unearned enemies), but there are better ways than bombing desperately poor countries into even smaller bits of rubble than they stood in before, and lying to invade another country in a strictly elective war of ideology, to deal with these enemies.

i am heartsick when i think of the kids, on both sides, on all sides, who will never be the same because of this mess.

september 11, 2001 was, and is, a heart-wrenching tragedy. there is absolutely no excuse for re-creating the agony of loss and bereavement worldwide.

peace.