I am grateful that the church was able, and willing, to make this kind of definitive statement of regret and acknowledgement. I can see why some people thought it was long overdue, but you can’t force the other side to be ready to see and understand the event. That the survivors and perpetrators never reconciled is not surprising, but that it took 150 years to have clarity about the events, is.

I also found the frustration of James is interesting to me as well. I would never go so far as to say that the US deserved to be attacked in the fashion which the 9/11 plot chose, I can’t say that the motives of those bombers is less understandable than those of the MMM killers. Maybe I have studied a lot more middle east history, or more than most, but I don’t assume that the motive for the attacks was really post- life virgins. Young men who have stable countries, with border integrity and economic options rarely become terrorists because they have things to do. Just as the Palestinians, too many middle eastern countries were used by the US and USSR to fight proxy wars. The young men in those countries have parents who have only known war and destitution, and they don’t have much hope of more than that. Especially at the time of the attacks, unemployment of 50%, for those under 30, was considered as much as could be hoped for.

I am not saying that there is an excuse for the decision to kill someone. I just don’t think it is any harder to put myself in the place of a 9/11 bomber than it is to put myself in the place of someone at Meadow Mountains.

Julia
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