TERRORISM - WHAT IS IT?

     Terrorism is that which frightens someone, so much that they have a lifestyle change, a quirk in their thinking and  certainly a loss of independence. Terrorism can be physical and can also be mentally or emotionally abusive as well. It has many forms and some are not so easy to see, but terrorism and terrorist are also terms used to intimidate others and at times thrown casually about and begin to lose meaning. Just watch any TV show having to do with crime and one will see the use of terrorist threat against a standard criminal in order to get them to fess up or give a name or whatever is the point of that particular interview.
     Now TV is not real life but there is an uncomfortable and undeniable link between them and at times it is hard to define who is imitating whom and which came first. I know that there are times that I cringe at a story line, wondering if the fertile imaginations of the writers have not just given a new trend of thought to some guy sitting in a little room or cave somewhere.
     It is a frightening world when we actually need to think ahead or in a continuum of space/time when we go places. I check the people walking into the theater, walk at the mall with an eye always to seeing where I can hide, is there room for two or three or whatever number is with us that day and if it is the kids, then how do we protect them. We all look around nervously in the airports and twitch a bit when we see something we do not like, but that is the life we all lead today. It does not make it right, just that it is what it is and one must adapt and one must see through the garbage that is thrown around in this context.
     So we prepare. Some buy guns. Some people become survivalists. Some indulge in burgeoning hatred and some make ridiculous statements. Apple and tree, Donald Trump Jr. compares people to skittles in a very shaky and simplistic analogy. Well, life is not that simple and what if the question were turned around and the three skittles were children who could be saved were we to allow them in? Would one just so easily condemn kids to death? We need to be careful in making statements and implications.
     What is most annoying and so predictable are the comments one gets from neighbors, friends and family after some jerk decides to blow up or shoot or knife people to death. These terrorists are then described as quiet or serious or loving or gentle and the parents evidently had no idea even as the terrorist lived in their home under their very noses. Now while we certainly do not know all about every member of our home, certainly one can see the change necessary in order to become a terrorist from an ordinary kid. How is it that all these oh so sweet kids turn into monstrous murderers and call upon the name of their G-d to justify it. They call that G-d Allah and we call it by other names but you know, it is all the same G-d and would that we would all realize that and simply accept the love from G-d and spread it around and realize that Sunni or Shiite, Christian or Jew, what religion is about is to improve the world, serve people, contribute and make the world, even in a tiny space, a better place. That is religion and that is what G-d is about - not the murderous Being who supports murder and horror.
     Terrorists also threaten and imply. They make videos in order to tell their victims what is coming and then go even further and actually commit terror on film. What has the world come to when otherwise seemingly normal people do this, not during a battle and the heat of battle, but in a cold and tormented moment. They tell us of futures in which we play  no part for we will not be there - unless we submit to their rule. And within their rule they do as all dictatorships do - they consolidate power, they take bribes, they sell drugs and contraband to raise funds, they kidnap to raise funds, they terrorize those who do  not obey every little law and inflict horrific punishments. They destroy the educated class other than their stooges and their world is committed to darkness.
     And then there are the minor dictators and terrorists who take heart and instruction from the successes of the bigger guys and practice their own brand of terrorism These are the weak guys who brutalize wives and children, the schoolyard bully who picks on the kid who is different, the mean boss who needs to assert power and control over someone, and the head of a governmental or political entity who rules his/her little world. We all know these people and have come across them. Threats and physical intimidation are no different and words are powerful. Statements that make a potential threat to hang over someone's head, or repression in any form - all tools of terrorists, big or small. And words lead to deeds and small people try to become bigger people with bigger footsteps and do not care who is obliterated under those footsteps.
     So yes, while a political boss is hopefully not going to blow someone up, he/she will blow up their world with a denial of hope, with intimidation, with selfishness. It is incumbent upon all of us that we fight this - be it in supporting our country and not thinking it is 1968 again and stand there with fist upraised, held up by spoiled brats of the athletic world or others. The world is not perfect but it sure is better than it was in many ways. As for the rest - well, that is why we must all work together and put down the guns and the threats and the fists and the disrespect for one's country. It is incumbent upon us to vote carefully and shut down the rhetoric and the lies, particularly in this campaign and it is incumbent upon us that we look closer to home and get rid of the dishonest pols that run our government too often and the incompetent and worse who run our local entities and yes, you know who that includes.
     Terrorism is awful. I have been close to it in Israel and the horror of the Towers will never leave me. I know too many people who have suffered from terror, people who have lost others and have lost pieces, figuratively, of themselves, their hearts and souls due to terror, physical and mental. Let us all stand up to it, live our lives, if a tad more watchful and alert and let us avoid putting all people of one commonality into one huge bowl for when we do it to one class of people, the next class is not far behind.
     May we all know better times, may we all never hear the blast of the bomb and the screams of the wounded and frightened and may we all strive to make this world a better place for our children and grandchildren.