my  block

where uzairs roam

This just hit the Digg front page. I’m shocked and saddened. All sorts of cliches come to mind — two wrongs, death begetting death — and yet there really is no way to capture the pure tragedy of a wasted life. Let’s hope Mr. Ritscher’s life, and his death, were not wasted.

From his mission statement below:

My position is that I only get one death, I want it to be a good one. Wouldn’t it be better to stand for something or make a statement, rather than a fiery collision with some drunk driver? Are not smokers choosing death by lung cancer? Where is the dignity there? Are not the people the people who disregard the environment killing themselves and future generations? Here is the statement I want to make: if I am required to pay for your barbaric war, I choose not to live in your world. I refuse to finance the mass murder of innocent civilians, who did nothing to threaten our country. I will not participate in your charade - my conscience will not allow me to be a part of your crusade. There might be some who say “it’s a coward’s way out” - that opinion is so idiotic that it requires no response. From my point of view, I am opening a new door.

What is one more life thrown away in this sad and useless national tragedy? If one death can atone for anything, in any small way, to say to the world: I apologize for what we have done to you, I am ashamed for the mayhem and turmoil caused by my country. I was alive when John F. Kennedy instilled hope into a generation, and I was a sorry witness to the final crushing of hope by Dick Cheney’s puppet, himself a pawn of the real rulers, the financial plunderers and looters who profit from every calamity; following the template of Reagan’s idiocracy.

I hate to admit it, but when something like this evokes emotion within me, I find myself stopping and thinking of the many thousands of Iraqis, Palestinians and Kashmiris who suffer in silence every day, as if to say, “Hey, this is only to be expected when America abuses its dominance”. It’s a petty reaction that offends me, because it violates the very principle that I am (in some sense) defending: that we all equally deserve each other’s care and respect, and that trifling nationalistic goals must not undermine our humanity. And I refuse to apologise — to myself, more than to anyone else — for feeling sympathy and a sense of loss for someone’s suffering, no matter what his flag or creed.

(Aside: Malcolm X famously said that JFK’s assassination was a case of the “chickens coming home to roost”, which translates roughly to the same rationale I confessed above. Malcolm X was a great man, and lest his words be misunderstood, let’s be clear: he did not imply JFK’s assassination was not a tragedy, just that it was a tragic consequence of ‘the culture of violence sanctioned by white society’.)