markreed.cjb.net - The Art Of Survival

ONE SECOND : THE ART OF SURVIVAL

It only takes a second. Once all things are peaceful. Not exactly quiet, but ordered. The way it should be. We go to work. We brush and shave. We pack sandwiches for work, choose books to read on the train, we select in a haze of sleep shirts and ties and bumble onto trains. We sit in corners of carriages, our eyes half-formed in snatched exhaustion, as we take the 7.29am into town.

It only takes a fraction of a second. The things we all took for granted, the things we all remembered, gone. From nowhere, from a small electrical current pulsating through a phone, connected to a detonator, a small charge flies. The fabric of the suitcase, the abandoned bag, the semtex ruptures. The fabric is torn out, slowly parting like a flower, a volcano fissuring, as latent energy is released. And it happens in the blink of an eye.

The inside of the train carriage is first : The carefully constructed order is rent. Windows shatter, steel buckles, blacken, plastic and vacuformed fittings, chairs, fabric, upholstery, all catch aflame, melt. People become history. Limbs are liberated from their bodies, sailing free for hundreds of feet before landing on gravel, on tracks, in the path of oncoming trains on other lines.

This is one form of terrorism. This is one form of war. This is what happens when the President of the United States taunts the terrorists and asks them to �Bring It On.�

Unlike the President, I will not tempt, nor taunt fate. I will be grateful for every day I am alive in the Western World. It is a state of privilege and comfort.

But I will not be cowed. I will not appease terrorists. I will remain Anti-War and Anti-Terrorism, as I always have been, as I always will be. We will continue, as we always have, being victorious through our continued survival. We will continue to work. Continue to love. To laugh. To live. That is our true victory. We will not live in fear, awaiting some time that may never come, but live in this world. The here and now. Live in a state of optimism. Trying to make the world a better place. And this is what we shall do. We shall continue to live, to laugh, to love. For life is too short for fear. And not long enough. Let us make each day the best we can. Let us start now to make a better world. Not just a case of survival, but of being alive.

Those who cease to live their lives through a fear are those who are already half-dead. I will not fear. I will live. I will be alive. Life is for the living and for the lovers. Let us make things beautiful.

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