Tim Jackins

The government of the U.S., other governments, and much of the media are making statements aimed at generating support for policies of revenge. This is to be expected in these circumstances, but can and must be actively opposed if we are to end, throughout the world, the likelihood of such attacks continuing to happen. The destruction of the persons responsible for the terrorist acts will not make us safe. The military punishment of small countries with any connection to the terrorists will not make us safe. We can easily understand the feelings that lead in these directions, indeed we may have some of these feelings ourselves. We know, though, that these feelings must not be acted upon, instead we must find intelligent policies and solutions that will actually move us and the world forward.

Desperate, destructive, irrational acts of terrorism are done by people who have been terribly hurt by the conditions in which they have had to exist. The conditions of life for a large fraction of the world's population remain so very desperate, as they have been for generations, that some of the minds of those who endure those conditions simply lose their sense of humanity.

As long as these desperately poor, dangerously unhealthy and oppressive conditions exist for any people in the world, we all will be in danger of someone's irrational acts of violence. Finding and killing those who have committed terrorist acts will stop those individuals but it will not stop more people from the suffering that creates such individuals.

We must develop policies that end poverty and oppression everywhere and for everyone. We have both the intelligence to develop these policies and the resources to carry them out. We, together, must actively develop and pursue policies that will value every person, no matter where they live, no matter what their religion, race, or nationality is. This is something that we are capable of, but we must give up the well-established pattern of life that has had sections of the world's populations benefiting from the enforced poverty of others. We humans have developed enough resources so that no one needs to live in poverty. That can never provide security.

There is enough for all of us.