Condolences to Spanish Board Members

[Rocket #9]

I just wanted to offer condolences and support to our Spanish members after the terrible train bombings in Madrid. I hope that you, your families, and friends are all right.

Ed

[Saundra Hummer]

Absolutly!

Your sorrow's are our sorrow's.

Has anyone heard from our friends there?

Have any of you written to them?

Tennorman? Have you heard from Madrid?

[EKE BBB]

I´m still trying to recover from the shock. While watching TV and on-line news, noting how the casualties list grew and grew, my feelings balanced from huge wrath to tremendous desperation, from great anger to infinite sadness...

Now at work again, all I wanna do is get up and shout... and cry!!!

Everything´s OK with me and my family. We didn´t have any friend, relative or acquaintance amongst the victims.

THANKS, Rocket, for starting this thread. I also want to publicly thank all the people who has been interested and given their condolences. I have been in touch via PM and e-mail with some members. Again, thanks!

The only consolation is my family. Watching Walt Disney´s "The Jungle Book" with my two years old child and seeing him laughing at Baloo´s singing and dancing brought the only hint of a smile to my face yesterday.

I will be lurking the site when I have the strength to, but won´t be posting for a while. I don´t have guts for it.

THANKS

[bubber]

EKE BBB,
My sympathy to the people of Madrid. I understand your feelings, and hope you'll get back to "normal" life as soon as possible, even if you have to live with what happened for a long time.

A friend from my hometown living in Madrid since a couple of months, phoned me yesterday and expressed his concern for how this will influence every day life in Madrid, a city he loves very much.

[Bev Stapleton]

Hard to say anything meaningful. The outrage and sorrow in Britain are great.

I was incredibly moved this evening to see the crowds out in Madrid and across Spain in a display of opposition to terrorism. Deeply affecting.

[Saundra Hummer]

Andy has a thread on "Does Terrorism Work."

I say no, as we won't tolarate it, it causes great damage for their lost cause, great sorrow, and such overwhelming devestation, that the carring people of this world will not tolarate, it. It might always be a problem, but they will never be sucessful in the terms they qualify as success. It is not going to happen, we just will not allow it.

We of good hearts can't ever believe how the terrorists do. There are too many of us, and I don't care how deluded they are, their lot will not improve because of such barbaric actions. It just cannot, and will not happen.

Strange how such barbarism by a few shows the world how good people are, look at the caring people around the world, tears for those they have never met.

[It Should be You]

Originally posted by Rocket #9
I just wanted to offer condolences and support to our Spanish members after the terrible train bombings in Madrid. I hope that you, your families, and friends are all right.

Ed

Me too

[Fran]

What ever their goal - It didn't work here and it wont work there.

This sort of thing saddens us all, but cannot be allowed to alter our lives. My wife and I are still taking our planned trip to Europe.

[GA Russell]

Amen!

[Tenorman]

My condolences also to those in Spain. This type of attrocity not only takes away the lives of innocent people, but takes away the peace of mind of those who remain.

There is a basic freedom which is being violated more and more as the years pass and that is FREEDOM FROM VIOLENCE. Whether that is physical or mental.

Ian

[LAL]

My heartfelt condolences to the Spanish people and particularly the residents of Madrid.

The important thing going forward is to continue even more resolutely with life's struggles, in fact, to be determined to help make our immediate environment and the world, a better place. This will not be easy to do but is the best way to win, to show the perpetrators that physical violence and the taking of lives can never get them what they want.

[clifton]

My condolences also. EKE BBB, hang in there.

[Tenorman]

EKE,

Hopefully you were nowhere near the blast in the suburbs of Madrid when the police tried to search a house (the BBc site said it was police and inhabitants that were killed and injured - there is no mention of civilians.

Again condolences from the UK. Both Spain and the UK have had to suffer the predations of terrorists for quite some time, but never ones who were prepared to commit suicide, and give no warning to innocent civilians before the event.

Here, we were quite prepared to challenge people on un-attended luggage and ask them to stay with it. Now it appears that it doesn't matter. These nutters will say "yes certainly" and then press the detonator.

Somehow this virus must be eradicated. I have no idea how to do it, and the US Government idea of fingerprinting everyone who enters the country is simply ludicrous. The people recently arrested in the UK for having a half tonne of bomb making equipment all came from "good families" with no criminal records - so what use fingerprints.

Stay safe EKE

[Saundra Hummer]

Agreed Tenorman, that is how they will be picking them. They will be your first time offenders when they blow up what ever, and whomever it is that they choose.

Why are they still targeting Spain if it is changing the government there that was their intent with the first bombing? I just think that they are just caught up in the violence, and so are so many others that is will just continue, for whatever reason, and we westerners will never understand it, never.

I logged onto Al Jazeera today and read their online newspaper, it is interesting and unbiased reporting for the most part. Surprising to me after all of the complaints about it from the Bush Administration, but then I thought, "Hey, I forgot to read their cartoons." so I went back, and there lies the danger, they are inciting children to become part of the Intifada, and showing how school children are becoming contaminated by Western books, etc. It is pretty disgusting to see such violent humor directed at young people, twisting their minds into doing the dirty deeds of bitter, controlling, powerseeking old men, and mullahs. To try to influence children in this manner, and their parents, relatives and friends, to use the youth of their countries in this manner is beyond contempt. Of course they had their cartoons slamming the west, Eisenhower, our military, the Jews, Bush and Tony Blair, but that's just fine, they can take it, we can take it, but the children and the youth of their countries, how terrible is that? They can sometimes take a long time to load, but if you go there, wait and see them all.

Cartoons aside, they did have an interesting story on the wall Israel is building. Will it ever stop?

They have a feedback and I wrote and told them how I feel about their situation, and the plight of their children, and of other children in the world. Doubt it is read by many, but it doesn't hurt to try.

[Tenorman]

Spoiled child syndrome, Saundra

If you take away a naughty child's dessert, they will pull the tablecloth off the table. If you send them to their room, they will wreck something there.

Have you ever seen the reactions of autistic children, when they are prevented from doing something - they will do something equally as destructive.

I feel that we should be looking at these people the same way as we look (professionally and properly) at autistic children.

[Saundra Hummer]

I have seen it reported that boys, young boys and sometimes into young adults don't comprehend the concept of danger, of mortality. It is taught, but not absorbed, some other instinct takes over, wanting to play with the most dangerous toy, their fathers loaded gun, the hunting knife in the cupboard, etc. Once in a while girls are the same but it falls mostly to boys. Could this be why, down through the ages, boys, the young men are the ones who are put in wars by clever old men? The old men are smarter, and know the dangers and they themselves usually stay in the background, manipulating, pulling the strings, knowing that when the ones at the fore are killed, there are more waiting to take their place.

[Andy D]

Children are not immune from this conflict, a colleague of mine who has spent some time working with some Palestinian children, The effects of the bombings, the shootings, the use of terror by the Israeli army, have the same effect on the children of Israel, as they suffer the effetcs of the suicide bombers.

Is there really any difference in growing up with radical Islam, and being taught that what you do in the name of 'survival' is justified no matter what ?

The Intifada has its roots in the way that one people have been told that there country, their heritage, their narrative is not as worthy, as meaningful etc as another. As long as this remains unchallenged, you will continue to have children on both side of the argument being caught up in 'adult' business.

Regards

Andy D.

[Saundra Hummer]

I have been logging onto Al Jazeera lately, and I have been reading about Palestinians and Jews, the United Nations, the Right of Return, and other pressing issues in the Mid East. It is interesting and since 1948, nothing has happened except violence and more settlements, Palestinians crowded into spaces meant for far less people, making thier lives unbearable. Living a degrading existence. How can rational thought exist in such conditions? And now with Sharon, (whom I look upon as criminal,) calling the shots, how can peace ever have a chance? The Palestinians are complicit in their actions as well. What in the world drives leaders to use so little common sense, be so stubborn in their beliefs, regardless of what it is the people need, or may even want. Look at the attitudes of our own leaders here in the U.S.

[Andy D]

Well partly it is history, partly fear, partly political and so and so on. In the end the reasons become confused and people just do what they have always done. What happened in Palestine after the 2nd World War, seems to be a major contribution to what we are seeing now. One people lost all they had and another gain what they felt was their historical right.

Either way you cut it there is violence, and we in the west seem to support one side, finance side, ignore the sufferings one on side. In reality all sides suffer, all sides live in fear and we seem at present not to move beyond this. I too consider Sharon a war criminal, just as I do Gaddafi each feel their cause is justified.

Regards

Andy D.

[Tenorman]

Ehh guys. We haven't heard from EKE since the morning of 2nd April.

According to reports here there were no civilians injured - but I wonder if this all happened close to where EKE lives

[Saundra Hummer]

I keep checking to see if he is posting and you are right to be cocerned. Not like him.

He stayed off the site for until things settled down for him with the first bombing, and since that had such a powerful effect on everyoine in Spain, perhaps this is hard to deal with as well. I can't imagine having young children in these times. I would be looking for a nice place in the country, away from such events.