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I've bounced around so many times as to where I stand. I know that hitting back may be a very bad decision, as the last thing we need now is to enrage the impressionable youth of Afghanistan and other nations of the Middle East, and incite them to follow in the footsteps of those who led the attacks on the WTC, Pentagon, and the other, unknown target. We must remember that Afghanistan may have nukes, and that most of the threat are people already living among us. So I also thought about the "turn the other cheek" philospohy, but I don't think that is it either. While on the one hand, we may be powerless to stop all the points of attack that these terrorists pose against us, but can we really just sit around and wait to get shellacked again? There are a lot of buildings, people, and targets in general out there to attack, so from a numbers perspective they can only get to so many of us. But can we really just wait it out, and hope that this terrorist activity is comprised of a finite number of "cells" (that is being of the assumption that bin Laden's not through with us yet), and therefore a string of attacks that will just run its own course and come to an end?
I don't know what to do. Nothing has ever been so unclear to me. Part of me wants to march down to my local armed forces recruiter right now and say get me in the action, even if just so I can go overseas, stare the enemy in the face and say "fuck you," just so I can die, proudly, for my country. Part of me also knows that the best thing most of us can do, besides donating blood and finances to the relief efforts, is to just go about our daily lives, keep working, spending, etc. (and not to stop using the air lines - the layoffs have got to stop - if the airlines all go under, our economy is going to be the worst its been since the 1930's.. maybe worse). I do know that we need leadership right now, a strong, wise government to make these tough decisions that I hope I never have to consider for myself.
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