Bomb explosions and stuff....

A bomb just exploded in Jakarta today.

I do not see this event any less/more than any bomb explosion happening in any other part of the world.
But I guess what makes it a bit 'larger', is that it had been a bit 'too close to home' this time. It happened in my own backyard, my own city, a street where I had spent a great deal of time in.
That's clearly still not a justification of a tragedy's 'magnitude' but that's what I feel.

Last year, another bomb had blasted right in front of my face.
The Marriot bomb was just behind the building where I was working at. I saw the ashes come down the window. It was scary. And now, being several thousand kilometers away from the event, getting scattered news here and there, makes me feel a bit paralyzed. I have now become the one asking people 'are you okay?' when it was me last year telling family and friends 'yes, I’m fine'.

Clearly, this is the last thing Indonesia needs right now.
We've been through a lot, and had seemed to be slowly moving out of the dumpster, even then I still got cynical remarks about the country/people's mischief which I think can sometimes be unfair.

Then this happened.

You start thinking, is it only a handful of people that are worried about where the country's heading at? And even worse, does it only take an even smaller number to make it worse?

I wonder if these very people who are responsible, even think....
- Who did they plan to attack? What is it the ones that were killed/hurt? I don't think so.

And

- Did they manage to 'hit' their 'target group'? I wonder if these people were even affected.

And what is apparent is that these tragedies are just causing more and more damage to the nation as a whole.
Don't they realize that the world does not see Indonesians as 'victims'.
I don't think this even cross people's minds.

When you hear bombs exploding in Indonesia (the Bali bombing, Marriot bombing, and moreover this one...) the thoughts that pass through people's minds are, 'now which group in Indonesia is it that did this, this time?'
You don't hear these sentiments when 'bigger states' experience tragedies.

Okay, I'm not trying to fuss on what is right and what is wrong here, that's a totally different story.
All I'm saying is that given the 'reality' (and it is painful), can't we at least try to stick together as a country and not damage ourselves further....?

I wonder what went through the minds of these morons, who think that killing innocent people is a valid way of making a statement (no matter what the statement is).

Who do they think they are, messing things up just for their own good?

Cause, then you see the aftermath...people get scared of us, they don't let us in their countries, they don't want to come to our neighborhoods, they don't even want to deal with us....

Let’s step back and think ahead, what can we do to help the country, not ruin it.

My deepest condolences to those whose family/friend/acquaintance were affected by the tragedy.

God bless us all.

-moenlite-
09/09/04