[Oe List ...] Fwd: OpEd Thursday

[mhampton at att.net]

thank you, Jaime for widening the picture.
mary h




________________________________
From: Jaime R Vergara <svesjaime at aol.com>
To: oe at wedgeblade.net
Sent: Tue, April 16, 2013 8:17:40 AM
Subject: [Oe List ...] Fwd: OpEd Thursday

If curious, welcome; not, see you at the bend!


j'aime la vie 

Yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate. In all, 
Celebrate!


-----Original Message-----
From: Jaime R Vergara <jrvergarajr2031 at aol.com>
To: jayvee_vallejera <jayvee_vallejera at saipantribune.com>; mark_rabago 
<mark_rabago at saipantribune.com>; editor <editor at saipantribune.com>
Sent: Tue, Apr 16, 2013 9:06 pm
Subject: OpEd Thursday


The blasts heard around the world
 
It was a commemorative Monday in one of the world’s famous city marathons.  Held 
on Patriots’ Day, a Massachusetts’ holiday, it remembers events of 1775 in 
Concord and Lexington when the American Revolution broke out. The Boston 
Marathon is the world’s oldest marathon event, first ran in 1897 with 18 
entries.  It registered 27,000 runners this year.
 
It also remembered the 26 victims in the Newtown, Connecticut Sandy Hook School 
shooting massacre as the run measures 26.2 miles and a set marker on the 26th 
mile was made to remind the participants of the tragedy not too long ago in a 
neighboring State.  

 
Most participants are recreational runners, in the race for the challenge of 
making it to the end of the line while friends and love ones cheer on, and 
basking on personal accomplishments.  While athleticism is on display, and the 
Boston marathon requires qualifying times along with experience in another run 
within a year-and-a-half, the sheer fun of participation is also wildly 
evident.  Recalling previous Aloha runs in Oahu, the levity of such run fests is 
contagious!
 
Two hours into the first crossing at the finish line, when many of the 
participants were finally making it, was when two blasts occurred 10 seconds 
apart.  Three were pronounced dead including an eight-year old child who was 
cheering on Daddy to the finish line.  

 
Barricades and yellow tapes sprouted quickly as security officials reacted in 
the manner they were trained.  The knowledgeable grabbed tourniquets as 
amputations suddenly became the medical order of the day!
 
The soul of a nation is laid bare, and already, the accusation of the hideous 
act of terrorism, domestic or foreign, is echoed in legislative chambers even 
without solid evidence of any kind.  AP reached the Taliban in Pakistan and the 
group immediately disowned any association with the incident.  

 
Another incident that may or may not be related was a blast at the JFK library.  
Two other bombs at the marathon were found and diffused.  No group so fare has 
laid claim to the perpetuation of the deadly assault on an erstwhile peaceful 
and fun-filled celebration.
 
We write from outside the sovereign territories of the United States, and though 
we have access to the wire services of western media, we also scour the response 
of local news sources.
 
China Daily reports a female student at Boston U in a coma at a hospital as one 
of the 140 casualties.  Seventeen females out of eighty-seven Chinese runners 
between 20 to 65-yr old were registered according to organizers.  There are no 
pro marathoners.  The paper’s reporting focused on the objective facts, in the 
same vein as it informed its reading audience the recent devastating tremors in 
Iran and Iraq at more than 7 points in the Richter scale; another of lesser 
intensity was around New Delhi in India.
 
Other colleagues, while lamenting the seeming senselessness of the Boston 
blasts, point out also without heavy-handed weight of judgment and condemnation, 
the numerous effects on innocent lives of our unending use of drones in our 
military engagements in South Central Asia, North Africa and the Middle East.  

 
The recent incessant demonization of the DPRK and a possible nuclear strike on 
US forces, including those in the Marianas, based on regular Pyongyang 
bellicosity,now makes sense as SoKor recently announced a financial stimulus 
package to help boost the Won against the weakening ¥en and the indeterminate 
¥uan.  I bet on increased defense spending.  

 
To the Obama administration’s credit, when the news media carried the allegation 
from a defense intelligence agency’s accusation that DPRK “possibly” has nuclear 
capabilities, the Pentagon quickly disowned the report and claimed that any such 
judgment, on the basis of evidence, is “inaccurate”.
 
Which brings us back to Boston.  Obama has not been a favorite of patriotic 
elements in the country, often accused of being a foreigner and Moslem out to 
sell the nation’s security down the drain.  The nation’s debate on gun control 
legislation after the gut-wrenching effect of Sandy Hook and other tragedies was 
very revealing of the level of vitriol leveled against the White House.
 
Knowing of the critical impact of symbolic gestures, the patriotic focus of 
Patriots’ Day is not lost on those of us who have distance enough to see how 
something like September 11, and the 911 as an emergency call signal, was laid 
on a nation taking advantage of the exploitation of other people’s resources.  
Dick Cheney’s drool on Iraqi oil is now confirmed by one of his own former 
aides.  

 
We might say that the Boston blasts is a cruel demonstration of certain elements 
in our society out to show that Boston and Massachusetts cannot prevail as the 
dominant ethos of a country attempting to leave its signature as a liberal and 
progressive “beacon on a hill” to the rest of the world.
 
Over photos sent on the Net of two men assisting each other to save a sheep in a 
raging river only to be followed by lamb chops being barbecued on the grill, we 
said, “it is a character of our times to mistake skepticism and cynicism as 
witty.”  

 
There is nothing witty about the Boston blasts, and if attempts are made to 
symbolize it as patriotic, we have turned into cruel folks, indeed.

 j'aime la vie 

Yesterday, appreciate; tomorrow, anticipate; today, participate.  In all, 
Celebrate!
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.wedgeblade.net/pipermail/oe-wedgeblade.net/attachments/20130416/1fdf6c08/attachment.html>