September 11th: Since long, we've gone too far (Deutsche Version)

It often has been  said: After the events of September 11th things had to be thought over thoroughly. Never before has a single event caused so much reflection all over the world in such a short time. Everybody is thinking: The US-Americans, the Moslems, the Europeans, the Chinese, the people in Israel, of course the people in Afghanistan; everybody, down to the most remote shepherd in Lapland, the most lonesome Indian in the jungle. In general, the reflection of human beings results in something reasonable. If, after careful consideration, people come to conclusions, they tend to communicate them to other people. Some of them will be more heard than others. Anyway: a discussion has been initiated, people talk and people listen, and it is to be hoped that reasonable points of view will be heard and will gain momentum.

In our days, more people than ever before live in so-to-speak democratic societies, with more or less independent public media. It's not only naive optimism to expect significant suggestions from the ongoing debate, how to deal with this world-wide shock. We all should participate in this thinking process, and we all should listen carefully. There will be many, too many statements, and not all of them will deserve to be heard. It will not be easy to identify the valuable ones. Beware of bias and preconceived convictions. One thing is sure: There will be a change; and only if we make all efforts, will it be a change for the better.

Humans have been victims of human aggression as long as we can think. With the advancement of technical development, these attacks have become more and more monstrous. Our ancestors, still less sophisticated than us, as their heritage provided us with two strategies to cope with aggression: Either we run away; or we strike back. Both strategies did their job over the millenia. But with time, we learned other means too. Modern concepts of justice go beyond the mere punishment of aggressors; in addition they ask for the reasons of aggression. Only in rare cases do humans harmfully attack other humans just for fun. Most of us have a reason for what we are doing. We know that from our own experience, and  we have the wonderful gift to guess the thoughts of others by imagination.

We all have been angry with someone before, but it has not always come to blows. It is our strength to think in a greater context. We know from experience which constellations foster hatred and aggression, and we have learned to avoid them. This has nothing to do with cowardice. It has a lot to do with mutual understanding and respect. We appreciate being respected, and we know that others do just the same. We long for respect in our private life, in our work, in our beliefs. We do not want to be offended.

And in our days, so many people are offended day after day in various ways. We just don't take notice any more. Our signals cover the whole earth. There is no shielded corner. The offense seldom happens intentionally, from one human to the other. While it's relatively easy to keep order in our personal relationships, it is much harder to keep tabs on our emanations the farther out they grow. We have forgotten how to keep our secrets. Everything is being amplified and trumpeted all over the world. And sometimes, people can't stand what they are forced to hear and to see. People are offended, irritated, and may even feel attacked personally. It isn't intentional, but it happens. We ought to learn to control our emanations better. It's no longer sufficient to keep the subtle balance of desires and conventions in each single country and society. The modern means of communication technology ignore all boundaries. Thus, we need some kind of world-wide convention. We have to readapt our natural sensorium, how far we can go in dealing with our fellow-men, who may no longer be just our visible neighbours. We have to realize that we are performing world-wide in front of open microphones. The whole world is listening. Until September 11th, we had no idea about the possible consequences.

Humans have to be patient with humans: we with the others, and the others with us.

MB 9/01

see also: http://www.moveon.org/