Again

As I am writing this, there is fresh blood on the streets of Paris. ISIS apparently has struck again. The act of murder, which authorities are calling an act of terrorism, has reared its ugly face. At least, 100 people are dead. The toll will rise as bodies are found and victims will lose the fight for life. The images are appalling....... Gunmen standing up in a concert hall turning it into a death hall, randomly shooting innocent civilians out for a night on the town. There are reports that the gunfire went on for twenty minutes, as the bullets and the blood mingled in carnage. Some victims staggered to the ground only to be shot again in cold blood......... Across town, the horror continued. A soccer match became a bloodbath, with bombs blasting and victims screaming for life......More attackers spraying gunfire...... More blood....... More agony........ More madness......... The news is stating that there were several locations that were targets. A well-planned mass murder by the animals of ISIS. In the following days and weeks, more information will be coming forth, the story will become clearer and questions will be answered. I am writing this fresh, as it is happening. But, it has become an old story. We have seen this scenario played out before. Only the names and places have changed. The result is death........ Blissfully unaware of the endless danger we are all in everyday, we walk in our daily lives, only wanting to survive and not hurt ourselves or anyone else. We believe, or were taught to believe, that no human beings are completely evil, that there is goodness somewhere in our fellow human beings. There can't be bloodthirsty animals out there, right? There cannot be such Devils amongst us........ There are such Devils....... And, they seem to be growing in numbers as the years go on. They sprout freely, so it seems, almost effortlessly demanding to bring harm to us all because----, well, who really knows why? If we knew, we would be THEM, the scum that murder freely, rape children, and destroy human life without a second thought......... What we learned from 9/11 is that we will forever be in an endless war with irrational people. They are no longer OUT THERE, but are at OUR FRONT DOORS. We can hide and pray that this will never find us in our daily existence. But, that was the thinking today and tonight in Paris, as innocent people went out for a fun night on the town. They were, I'm thinking, mostly good people who fell to death. Tragedy always plays unfairly with life. Like a battle, some of the bravest die, some of the biggest bastards live on. But, the majority of the people who are in body bags now were good people, I will attest. They knew love. They knew fear. They had dreams that came true and had dreams still in the making. Their only crime was to think they could go out into the world and have a nice evening of fun. They found out that they could not......... That is the victory that terrorists can now claim for decades. The slowly eroding of public and private safety. No longer can we go forward with that innocence. It is gone forever, like the victims of today's madness. The dark cloud of death is a constant companion to us all. And, it is a most unwelcome one......... What can we do? Well, as history as shown us, violence and murder go hat-and-hand with human behavior. Fortunately, it still is a minority. But, it is a strong, loud minority. Hate drives the insane. Sadly, we can never eradicate pure evil....... But, we can, and should, fight it. We have in history, and it has been successful. As the World Wars of the 20th Century have demonstrated, countries around the world can band together to wipe out a Hitler. Today's version of Hitler is not one man but a whole ideology. It is based in the religious zealousness of Islam, a religion I have been told my whole life is peaceful. But, it has been my observation that it is not. I have never been a fan for organized religion, which I consider a cult of fury. I believe you can have a strong faith in whatever Almighty you choose to follow, as long as it does not do disservice to common sense and free thinking and open minds for those that do not agree with you. I believe in God. Do I have proof? No, it is an internal feeling of assuredness that there is something bigger than myself. However, I do not criticize those who feel the opposite of me. Free choice to believe what you want to believe. As long as it does not hurt someone else....... Islam hurts. Other organized religions do also, through brain-washing and religious bullying. I can never get around in my mind correctly the feeling of killing for God [or, Allah] in the name of salvation. But, the decades long terrorism problem is rooted in this and , it must be understood, Islam is its chief SOURCE.... I am a peaceful man. I always believe that going to battle should always be a last resort after all other peaceful options have been exhausted. Wars are usually fought by the young for the old to somehow benefit. This War On Terror [yes, Mr. Obama, it is, and should be, called this] is universal. The United States cannot fight this fight alone. Other countries must become our real Allies again, like we were when we fought Hitler, and try to contain [we will, lets face it, never wipe away] our enemies. We need a global agreement to band together to take care of each other. It is in our best interests to work side by side, hip to haunch, and go after the bad guys. Yes, there will be blood and mayhem, a lot of it. I'm not for killing for killing's sake---- that would make me a terrorist. But, a solution of unilateral force, however ugly it is to fathom, is our only option now...... If we don't, then expect more Paris tragedies to happen unchecked........ And, more body bags....... With people you know........