CAN’T GET NO SATISFACTION - Monday May 2, 2011
today’s Musing written and published from Cranston in south- east Calgary, near the Bow River valley
Morning walk: 2C/36F, clear and calm – yesterday’s warmth receded overnight but, for a nice change, seems to have carried over to today. Gusta romped early, I trailed along both exhausted and exhilarated from a yesterday.
Satisfying pleasures, urges, needs, un-met ambitions - normal human quests. Yesterday, for me, was filled with rest, writing and thinking things through to resolution, and satisfying some of those quests: I finally visited the Karsh exhibit at the Glenbow Museum - enjoying Karsh’s descriptions almost as much as his iconic photos - good company, good coffee and then home for what is becoming a new Sunday night ritual – finishing, polishing and publishing a short story for publishing (see below), concluding in his morning’s wee hours. Seven weeks on, I’m enjoying it more each week, particularly as I experiment with story structure and perspective from which a story is being told. The stories are getting a little longer, more complex and much more satisfying for me and, I hope, more enjoyable for readers.
End justifies means.
Punishment fits crime.
Got what he deserved.
Brought to justice.
These words populate the vernacular of justice; about moral rightness, ethics, rationality, natural law, fairness or equity – along with punishment for breaching.
It seems odd to write about it.
And, it seems inappropriate not to, as well.
For many around the world, yesterday’s date will annually commemorate the satisfying of another human quest – a dark one, the quest for revenge. Yesterday was historic and will not be forgotten as an execution date, an iconic event in American history and, in time, a significant though likely not pivotal footnote in world history.
Our American friends have, finally, tracked down and rid the world of one of the most heinous evil doers ever; Osama Bin Laden has been killed in a raid, in Pakistan, designed and executed for that purpose. I find it somewhat ironic that the date of the execution was May 1st, or May day, synonymous with celebrations by communists, anarchists, socialists and unionists – a day that used to be an exhibition of worldwide note in the former Soviet Union, as a day for demonstrating military might – perhaps satisfying some who live for irony.
The loss of so much life and the trail of so much destruction at the hands of Bin Laden-led forces should not be forgot. I doubt his followers will leave the event un-avenged so expect security delays at airports.
Americans, Canadians, Brits and many more countries suffered losses of property and citizens at the hands of al-Qaida – and all have much pain and loss to assuage as justification for excesses of retaliation.
I cannot imagine the hatred that has lived in the minds of a Bin Laden and his followers, just as I cannot imagine the depth of anger and grief felt by his victims or their families.
Media have a new subject to blanket us, inundate us with – and they will in coming days, to the point of nausea at the excess of it and, for many I think, at the moral dilemma of justifying it as a solution in a progressive world that champions bringing criminals to trial in a courtroom. Dead or alive – not an old wild west cliché, the justification for what happened yesterday.
Is it right?
Is it just?
Is it enough or too much or too little?
The big story today – is not, as we watchers might have expected, about Canadian elections or who won yesterday’s PGA tour event, not about oil prices or the stock market, not about fashion or passion, or any other commemoration from history (didya know that the Hudson’s Bay Company was granted its charter on this date in 1670?); not about any of these things that editors crave, stuff to fill typically skimpy pages of our Monday morning paper.
The big deal, the big story, the big event was announced by the United States last evening, telling the world about what they did yesterday.
Yesterday, events of note happened – but the world did not change.
A bad guy died, but his cause did not.
Vengeance and justified retribution occurred but, I suspect, cannot possibly fix holes in lives that have been altered by al-Qaida terrorism, just as surely as Bin Laden’s execution will not bring back a single life or un-ring any bell that had to toll to mourn those who are gone.
We live in a world of big-picture symbolism; the World Trade Centre was such an icon. Just as the world remembers December 7, 1941’s destruction, these dates and events are the grist of the media mill, foster articles, books, speeches, movies and mini-series after mini-series.
The 9/11 deed and the retaliation cannot be undone, redone or Bin Laden’s killing or burial at sea be reversed, done-over or re-thought.
Will yesterday’s actions and its results extinguish hatred, violence or terrorism?
I doubt that very much.
Will it be, over time, or even by the end of the week, satisfying for anyone?
And, if it is, what could that satisfaction be?
~~~
This Musing year (my 9th), a new goal - write a short story a week, post a new one each Monday morning for 52 weeks. To read this week’s story : GRACE LOUISE link to: SHORT STORY PROJECT . Link to last year’s THE POETRY PROJECT archive.
~~~
Mark Kolke
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May 1 - HOORAY HOORAY - Comments Received
Thanks for the great music links and analysis of the election malaise. As a Canadian living out of the country it is refreshing to see some out-west attitude to balance the Toronto centric media. Good job and keep up the great columns – I red them every day, CE, Chicago, IL
