All the Rage in Paris

It began as these things tend to begin: a sudden awareness that something really horrible has occurred somewhere in the world. Something has happened in Paris. 

It's bad, really bad but we're not sure how bad. People are dead but how many? 20? 30? No, 60. But no, the tally of the dead has just begun. 80, 100.

What happened? Information is coming through but the facts are still fluid. Terrorist attack. No, attacks. Terrorism at multiple points within Paris. 

The numbers kept fluctuating through the evening with one report listing the death toll at 153. The last report I saw had the number of the dead at 129 with 350 more injured. And all of this happened over the space of a half-hour in 6 separate but coordinated attacks led by men armed with guns and explosives. The militant terrorists known as ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attacks. 

And here we go again. 

Once more petty ignorance and blind hatred has propelled another exercise in deadly aggression against an innocent populace. Once more we're clambering through the smoke and awash in the blood of war. And make no mistake, this is war. But the battlefield is where you live and you have been conscripted into this war by just being there. 

Our enemy is an implacable foe who will not accept our surrender, only our death. Our enemy is fueled by a corrupted ideology that cannot be appeased. Our enemy is prepared to fight until all of them are dead and, in the process, all of us as well. 

So what is the answer to all of this. Don't look to me for that. I'm just a schmuck with a blog. But I think even wiser heads than mine are stumped on how to answer the unceasing rage of terrorists. But perhaps it's not an answer that we need to concern ourselves with. Perhaps the most important consideration is a question.

Do we want to live in a world like this? 

You may think the answer to that question is obvious: no, we don't want to live in a world like this, where innocents are gunned down or blown up by chaos agents divested of humanity. The answer is obvious but the important thing is the question. How strongly do we feel about this? And by "we", I mean you, me and everyone else who is not a dickless coward of ISIS and their ilk. Are all the nations of the Earth committed to this question? Because democracies, dictatorships, monarchies and all the principalities of this world, none of them benefit from a world like this. 

The actions of men who have lowered themselves below the status of men cannot continue to set the agenda, set the course for this planet. They cannot continue to have the power of death and destruction over us all. 

In the wake of these attacks, a common sentiment was expressed from around the world from civilized people who refute the ways of hate and violence: we stand with Paris.  

And that is a very good thing, indeed. But if we are to stand up to the actions of evil men without honor, we must stand together, all of us, beyond the fires of all the rage in Paris. This is our world, not their's.  These cowardly terrorists forfeited all right to this Earth when they refuse to abide by human decency, refuse to respect human life. 

We stand with Paris. We stand with this world. 

Tout le monde, être bon pour un de l'autre.

Everyone, be good to one another.