I have no tale of horror or heroism to tell. But I can tell you that everything has changed. I heard the roar of a jet on Tuesday morning and it sounded awfully close for Manhattan, which is generally off-limits to airplanes. Then there was an odd, muffled “clang” that didn't sound good at all. But you hear a lot of noises in the city.

Later, heading down Second Avenue on my bike, I noticed that everyone was looking up and that everyone was quiet.

Black smoke poured out of some 20 floors of the World Trade Centre's North Tower. Since they stood so close, it wasn't easy to tell that one tower, and those inside it, had already ceased to exist. At Delancey Street it was as if someone had turned down the sound. The street, full of cars and people, was quiet, like in a snowstorm. And that is how it has remained.

There's no yelling. No horn-blowing. No cursing. People are astonishingly polite. It's not like we're trying. It's just less painful than bickering.

There is a smell of burnt rubble in the air when the wind blows the pall this way. My friend Eser, who was in Istanbul during the earthquake two years ago, says she can smell the death.

And you wonder what it will be like in a year. Or five. Most of our cultural activity is based on either boredom, domestic pollyanna or complaining about our parents or their surrogates the police. What will we do when such irrelevance becomes obvious?

Some have already formulated plans. Some, like a battered child, feel that their behavior, if properly modified, can prevent another attack. Some, with infinite flexibility, manage to tuck and hem their world view to fit the circumstances. But the problem is, this is new. These tacks won't do.

In America, each generation crawls out of its cocoon of childhood to devour the generation preceding it, with varying degrees of success. Will we have to wait for the current crop of prepubescents to mature to find out what there is to say? Or could something this big actually make us feel we are part of the same society?

I talk to people and a surprising number of them are keen to go on a peace march. I tell them there is no need for peace. Peace is what we had before September 11th. Peace failed us.

But we need a new kind of war – a war of loving kindness. We need to make it clear to people whose values are so different from ours that we can speak their language. We need to show them the kind of respect the Inuit show their fellow creatures. We need to embrace our adversaries, explain how things must change, and gently dispatch them.

If we can imbue ourselves with the nobility of spirit required for the challenge ahead, we can acquit ourselves with honor, faith and love. We can kill with sanctity. Perhaps that is one thing of value the holy warriors can teach us.

****

 

Why We Should Not Act

 

Since the tragic events of September 11th, U.S. policy toward Afghanistan and the whole of the Middle East has been in complete disarray, leaving both the American public and our allies deeply divided. It is clear that we must change our approach if we expect to have any success in responding to the crisis.

First off, let us examine our role in aiding the erstwhile “freedom fighters” who wrested Afghanistan from the Soviets. U.S. support was stingy, reflecting a position of mistrust and indifference toward those who sacrificed so much for independence.

After the war the U.S. quickly abandoned the country, not only cutting off humanitarian aid but agitating against the principal group drawn from the majority Pashtun tribe, the Taliban, choosing instead to support the armies of smaller ethnic groups, which prolonged the conflict. The Taliban, never given a chance to prove its legitimacy, was attacked due to its handling of internal matters..

Soon after, U.S. contempt for Muslim concerns was again exposed by our paltry response to the genocide in former Yugoslavia, when we had to be dragged by the liberal governments of Europe to aid the Bosnians and Albanians while they were slaughtered by Serbian nationalists. Osama bin Laden, now faced with unsubstantiated charges of plotting the WTC attack and other terrorist acts, was enraged by American indifference to Muslim suffering in the Balkans as well as Afghanistan.

American neglect of Central Asian concerns has earned us great enmity from the peoples of that region, including Tadjikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, none of which are willing to help us now. It is no wonder that Russia and China have warned us away as well, denying us support against the legitimate government of the Afghan people. After such a misguided foreign policy, who can be surprised that Iran has ramped up its anti-American activities, promising dire consequences if we attack their fellow fundamentalists?

This, coupled with lukewarm support from Britain, France and Germany, should be enough to indicate that any attempt to use military force to capture bin Laden and his lieutenants will not only fail, but will earn us only the condemnation of the international community.

Even in our own country, polls show that a substantial portion of the population does not want to sacrifice American blood in a far-away land where there is little clear evidence of anti-American terrorist activity. The people have spoken: war is not the answer. There is no stomach for a campaign of indiscriminate bombing and heavy ground combat such as the president has promised. The only way we can be sure of avoiding strife at home, international isolation, and further attacks from abroad is to refrain from acting. We must pray that our leaders heed the call of peace. Remember, there has never been a good war.

Author's note for those in doubt: all of the above statements are completely false.