C H O I C E S

Living Consciously

Amidst the chaos, the agony and the mourning that follows Tuesday's appalling attacks on New York and Washington, Americans must not lose sight of the fact that our response will determine the ultimate success or failure of the attacks.

Many thousands lost parents, children, brothers, sisters and friends. The nation is in shock. It is understandable that the immediate response is a quest for vengeance, a demand for justice. This quest for vengeance, however, is all too likely to result in ill-considered attacks abroad and racist attacks at home.

Those who perpetrated these attacks presumed upon themselves the right to take the lives of innocent civilians. We must not presume that right upon ourselves. There is no value in attacks that are destined to result in the loss of even more innocent lives. To act with disregard for the lives of those who are not directly responsible for the attacks on the US lowers us to the same level as those who perpetrated the barbarity of Tuesday's attacks.

As a matter of international law, there is no justification for retaliatory strikes. It is a universally accepted standard of civilized society that suspects are arrested and tried for their alleged crimes, not summarily executed.

The appropriate course of action is to recognize that this attack was perpetrated by individuals and it is individuals who must be brought to justice, not villages or cities. Even if a deliberative process concludes that those individuals were supported in their actions by the government of another nation, it is the leadership of that government which must be brought to account, not the civilian population.

Moslem Americans and people of Middle Eastern descent have already been the targets of violence and the recipients of death threats. It is not enough to shake our heads in disgust at these horrible responses to the tragedy of the attacks. People of conscience should match those hate calls with calls of support. If we wish to fundamentally disarm those who would promote religious and racial conflict, Muslim organizations should be flooded with calls of support. The best response to terrorism, is to affirm community and to call ourselves to a higher expression of our humanity. The attack on New York and the Trade Center is not just an attack on a landmark it is an attack on a symbol of racial and ethnic coexistence - a city where more people from more races, nations and religions live together in relative peace.

If any good can emerge from this horrible event, it will come because we match a terrible act with a response that stands in direct contrast. We must match terrorism with a respect for human life and a respect for the rule of law. We must match religious and racial conflict with an affirmation of diversity and tolerance.

- Peter T. Ferenbach, September 12, 2001

[Peter T. Ferenbach is the director of California Peace Action, the state's largest peace and justice organization. 2800 Adeline St., Berkeley CA 94703.]

Copyright © 2001 by Peter T. Ferenbach. All rights reserved.