Madrid, Spain, and the World
2004-03-12 by Editor P.O.V. Image Service
Although this list is ostensibly about art and printing, I find, especially with some Castilian blood flowing through my veins. that I cannot blithely ignore the brutality and senselessness of yesterday's attack in Madrid. Nine Hundred and eleven days ago, an attack on civilians cost the lives of well over 3000 in New York City. In the immediate aftermath of that attack, a singular refrain erupted from the mouths of leaders and everyday people the world over: "we are New Yorkers." The civilized world put aside for a moment, their petty differences, in recognition of the fact that the death of everyday innocents, simply trying to make their individual ways through life, to promote any political, religious, or social cause, was not simply unacceptable but denoted an inherent and fatal flaw in the fabric of any philosophy that supposedly and ostensibly concerned itself with morality and the rights of man. Today, some two and one-half years later, the people of Madrid, and all Spaniards, know all too well the feelings such unspeakably depraved callousness towards the value of human life can bring to the hearts of many. Catalans, Andalusians, Castilians, Basques, Aragonians, and all the people of the Iberian Peninsula mourn with the people of Madrid. Today, and for the foreseeable future, they all are citizens of Madrid. From Malaga to San Sebastian, from Barcelona to Merida a thread of pain and sorrow binds them all together. Yet, I know that the Spanish people shall survive, the resolve symbolized in the stone of Gibraltar, the will and backbone denoted by the steel of Toledo, and the soaring spirit of the Pyrenees are untouched. That stone will not crumble, that steel shall not fail, and that spirit will not be forced down from it's dance with the Iberian sun. As an American, and as a "New Yorker," I know only too well the pain many Spaniards are now feeling. But, I also know the resolve and will that such depraved indifference to human life can kindle in the better angels of our nature. Terrorism, attacks upon non-combatant civilians, is the killer virus of our age. Although other causes may rob the world of greater numbers of people each year, terrorism of the sort seen yesterday in Spain, when practiced, infects and poisons the souls of those on all sides. Whether born of misguided religion, poverty, or hate, such cruelty and disregard for one's fellow human beings is nothing less than monstrous and misanthropic in the extreme. No cause, can ever justify the reckless disregard for morality that such an attack displays. No attack can ever justify the cowardice such an attack confirms. Some 30 months ago, Spaniards became New Yorkers and poured both support and sympathy to the people of New York and America. Yesterday, in a few brief moments, in a train station station filled with commuters, the world once again found itself reeling from a blackness of soul and darkness of aim, that is unfathomable to any feeling being. Today, for a moment, time and politics once again stand still, as I, other Americans, and indeed, all right-minded citizens of the world say "I am with you in this moment of national and international tragedy, for I too am a citizen of Madrid." Now, all those of honor and good will must stand together with the people of Spain, in strength, determination and resolve, but without succumbing to the desire for revenge engendered by the rage such acts provokes. For if we do not stand together with Spain, in unity of purpose, integrity of spirit, and belief in the potential of man for good; those whom would so cavalierly kill so many have already won. -- Keith Krebs "Just some guy," caretaker of the Multiverse's largest EPSON printer User Community (highly recommended by Vogon Poets and MegaDodo Publications), at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EPSON_Printers/ and the Multiverse's largest Canon printer User Community at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Canon-printers "For the rest of you out there, the secret is to bang the rocks together guys"