Why Do Terrorists Frequently Target Innocent People?

It seems terrible that terrorists frequently target innocent people. Why do the terrorists deliberately attack such persons?

Multiple Reasons for Targeting the Innocent
I think there are multiple reasons, and I discuss some of them below.

• Innocent persons are often easier to attack than heavily fortified military bases or similar targets.

• Attacking innocent persons often generates far more big news headlines worldwide than the killing of soldiers, thus attracting more attention to the terrorist group and its "cause."

• Attacking public places where large numbers of innocent men, women, and children are gathered and security is limited enables a lot of casualties, thus getting even more publicity for the terrorists than would otherwise occur.

• One goal of terrorists presumably is to terrorize persons into meeting their demands. Killing numerous innocent persons is likely considered a way to instill fear into the masses. Terrorists may think that these terrorized masses will pressure their government(s) to surrender to the terrorists' demands.

• Terrorists to some extent are following examples set by the "good" guys who apparently sometimes targeted innocent civilians to terrorize people into surrendering. For example, during World War II, the Allies heavily bombed Dresden, Germany killing thousands of innocent civilians. Later during World War II, the United States dropped two atomic bombs on Japanese cities to terrorize the Japanese into surrendering. Terrorists may be seeking to do something similar on a different scale.

• Persons under extreme stress in difficult circumstances often act irrationally. Perhaps some terrorists are even "inspired" by such horrible and irrational incidents as the My Lai massacre committed by U.S. soldiers during the Vietnam War.

A Better Question to Ask?--What Can Be Done to Prevent Terrorists from Targeting Innocent People?
Perhaps a better question to ask than "Why do terrorists frequently target innocent people?" is "What can be done to prevent terrorists from targeting innocent people?" Finding the answer to this second question may be even more difficult. But I think a key is to seek to find the underlying causes that lead persons to become terrorists and to commit acts of terrorism in the first place.

If we can seek to treat all people fairly, seek for all persons to receive a moral upbringing and quality education, and seek for minor grievances to be resolved before that they can escalate into major ones, that would go a long way toward reducing the number of terrorists that are created in my humble opinion. Numerous international aid programs exist (CARE, Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders, etc.) that seek to help, but much more can be done.

Too often countries with powerful militaries (such as the United States) use their positions of power to seek to intimidate and control other countries. Remember the numerous times the United States has sought to overthrow the governments in other countries? Remember the way the United States has often sought to control international trade in products such as crude oil? Countries, groups, and individuals that lack a powerful military must use other methods to achieve their purposes and unfortunately many resort to forms of terrorism that seem to deliberately target innocent people.

As we seek to hold terrorists accountable, perhaps we also need to focus on holding the United States military and the United States government accountable for their abuses. I do not believe any acts of the United States government or its military forces justify the actions of terrorist groups to kill innocent persons, but I do believe that holding the United States government and its military (and the governments and militaries of our allies) accountable for abuses will go a long way toward eliminating excuses that the terrorist groups use for their atrocities.

But there isn't an easy human solution to the problem of terrorism. I think the best solution can only come from the perfect righteous authority, God. Maybe seeking to follow Jesus's command to love even our enemies would be a positive step, though. More humanitarian aid and education might do more good than bombings targeted at terrorists that too often inadvertently hit innocent persons and/or damage their food, water, and electric supplies. These actions may do more to urge additional persons to become terrorists than they do to kill and capture existing terrorists.

I don't claim to have all the answers, though. I pray for God's perfect will to be done--whatever that may be.

The 2020 United States Presidential Election: Seeking 20/20 Vision for 2020

As I write this on November 10, 2015, I wonder if it is too late to get a top notch candidate to run for President in 2016, though there are probably a few reasonably good ones in the race. Perhaps it is time to also think about seeking to get the right person to run in the next election in 2020.

Possible Qualifications
Maybe we need an independent candidate who will do what is right rather than a member of the Democratic, Republican, or some other political party. All political parties have flaws, and if a candidate is supporting the party's political platform instead of God's perfect will, the candidate is in error.

We may also need a candidate who is not a Freemason or a member of any other secretive organization. Masons I've talked with state that it is "a good organization." But I am not a member and feel that persons who are already sincerely seeking to obey the righteous authority, God, need not belong to a human organization that is supposedly good with its rights, rituals, and obligations.

We need a candidate who will be 100% truthful. There may be certain questions the candidate can avoid answering by stating they are "irrelevant" or that "it is better not to answer that question." But it is important not to lie and whenever reasonably possible to provide answers to questions rather than evading them.

We need a candidate whose background, experience, and other qualifications indicate that he or she possesses the education, skills, ethics, intelligence, determination, compassion, etc., that make the candidate the best qualified person willing to seek the office.

We need a candidate who will refuse to take money from donors for future favors, a candidate who will refuse to run false and misleading advertisements. Instead, we need a candidate who will seek to articulate specific goals and plans, who will participate honestly and truthfully in debates with other candidates, and who will get the word out about his views and plans via inexpensive methods of communication (websites, etc.). If such a candidate builds momentum via word of mouth among the masses of people who want a well-qualified, honest candidate, maybe these masses of people knocking on doors, making phone calls, and telling their friends and relatives can make such a candidate a winner as momentum builds.      

Concluding Thoughts
I am confident that there are many qualified candidates among the millions of persons eligible to run for President. And if we don't find a better qualified candidate, maybe I'll even run myself in 2020. Hey, if I vote for myself I'll get at least one vote. But we still have plenty of time to find a better qualified candidate than me (and I am confident there are a huge number of persons that would be better than me), and I really don't want all the responsibilities, etc., that the office of President entails. I hope and pray that the right candidate(s) will step up and run.

I'm praying for the right candidate to win in 2016, too, whoever it may be. But it's not too early to be thinking about 2020, especially if we want the best qualified individual to run, symbolized in this piece's title by the words 20/20 vision. Maybe we can get the best candidate ever. Just as persons can have eyesight better than 20/20, maybe we can have a better candidate than we ever have before. You may think I am being unrealistic. Maybe I am, but I am ready for positive changes in our political system and hope in at least a small way (through this article) to help us progress toward it. Are you ready and willing to help progress toward positive change, too? Do you have ideas about who would be the best choice to run for President of the United States in 2020 (assuming we don't have the best qualified person in office to run for reelection then)?

My Kentucky Hillbilly Accent (And Other Accents and Languages)

I am proud of my southeastern Kentucky hillbilly accent. I still have it after many years living in Lexington, Kentucky. Perhaps we all have certain strengths and weaknesses based on where we are from and our accents help illustrate that. 

Three Specific Examples of Different Accents/Word Definitions
The three paragraphs below discuss three specific examples of the effects of different accents/versions of the English language.


First, though I've encountered relatively little kidding because of my accent, that's not true for some. I remember the first day in a class at the University of Kentucky a few decades ago when the instructor asked each of us to state our name and where we were from. One girl in her hillbilly accent stated her name and the name of the small town in West Virginia where she was from. The instructor and many in the class laughed; she laughed with them. But, when I saw her a few years ago, and she spoke in what I will call "Lexington English," she stated that she had gotten so much kidding about her accent that she had taken voice lessons. Yes, language and accents can be important to many people in various ways.

For the second example, I'll illustrate how closely an accent can identify the neighborhood one grew up in. Recently I rented a car and visited family and friends in southeastern Kentucky. On the return trip, I bought gas in Pikeville. Someone at the station noticed the Colorado license plate on my rental car and that I didn't speak like someone from so far away. I told them that it was a car I'd rented in Lexington where I lived, and that I was visiting family and friends in Jenkins. The person mumbled something like, he may be from Lexington now and here visiting Jenkins, but that's a Pond Creek accent. And he was right. I still speak with the accent I acquired during the years of my childhood that I lived in the Pond Creek area of Pike County, Kentucky.


My third illustration deals with the written English language. I recall reading a book about bicycle repairs during my childhood; the book suggested putting "paraffin" on a bicycle chain to clean it. I couldn't understand why someone would put paraffin (which I considered wax) on a bicycle chain. However, on a hunch I checked the copyright page and learned that the book I was reading was published in Great Britain. I looked in a dictionary and learned that in Great Britain the word "paraffin" means kerosene.

Different Accents and Languages, Assets or Liabilities?
I consider my accent an asset and not a liability. We hillbillies have many positive traits that we can be proud of. And after all, everyone from every location has an accent of some type. As long as we can speak legibly so that we can be understood and can hear well enough to understand others, I think it is fine to have various accents.

If accents (and differences in word definitions) can create problems for English speakers from different countries (and even different places within the same country), I find it difficult to even imagine the difficulties created by language barriers for persons traveling to the United States from around the world, whose native language is not English. I am grateful for dictionaries, as well as for devices that translate from one language to another.

Folks, let's all be proud of our accents, whatever they may be. And let's all be tolerant of the accents of others, whatever they may be. And if one standard English ever prevails that we English speakers all speak, it may improve communications, but I think much will be lost, too. For now at least, as long as we can speak clearly enough to be understood (I think I can?), I think it is a blessing to have some diversity of English accents.

And I am confident that the various languages besides English around the world provide blessings to their speakers, too. I would love for everyone to understand everyone else perfectly, but I am confident that there is a purpose for the various languages, too. Maybe someday someone will create a perfect language that is easy to learn but incorporates the best features of all the languages (and accents) around the world. But I don't expect that anytime soon. For now at least, we have lots of accents and languages, for better or worse. Let's seek to make the best of it.

Developing and Maintaining Quality Relationships

I don't claim to be an expert on developing and maintaining quality relationships. But I have lived in several different locations over the course of my lifetime and been blessed by God to develop wonderful friends in various places and been able to keep in contact with many of them.

Ideally, we are to be friends with everyone and to love even our enemies as Jesus and the Apostle Paul taught. Indeed, if we love our "enemies," there is a good probability that we will find we have no enemies.

I consider everyone a friend. But friendship comes in various forms. We are different types of friends to different people. Some persons who are further along the right path than us can mentor and lead us more than we help them; some are at a similar stage to us and we help one another in approximately equal amounts. For others who are struggling along the way, we may help them more than they help us. As time goes on and relationships progress we can help one another (as well as fellowship) in different ways.

The key to successful relationships though is that they involve someone helping someone else or better yet each individual helping one another. What we want to avoid is allowing ourselves to be dragged down by compromising our morals to make someone else happy.

Christian fun, fellowship, and discipleship are great. But compromising one's morals to "make a friend happy" is wrong. Stand firmly for what is right in a compassionate, loving way. That is a key part of developing and maintaining true friendships.

Do I always succeed in perfectly obeying God's leadership in the way I handle friendships? No, and I doubt that anyone ever does. But I am seeking to progress toward God's perfect path for me whatever that may be.

Furthermore, with e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, cheaper long distance phone rates, etc., it is easier to stay in contact with friends than it was decades ago. This is a blessing. And automobiles and mass transit make travel faster, easier, and cheaper than it was centuries ago when this country was founded.

It is a blessing to enjoy good friends, neighbors, relatives, acquaintances, etc. I am blessed immeasurably and hope you are, too.

The United Nations: It's Not Perfect, But It Is a Good Organization

The United Nations may be less humanitarian in focus than the U.S. Peace Corps, may be less powerful than the United  States military, and certainly lacks the perfection of God. But it has done a lot over the decades of its existence that has likely helped prevent the occurrence of World War III.        

The United Nations deserves much credit for all it does (and has done) for so many countries around the world since its charter took effect on October 24, 1945. As I write this on United Nations Day (October 24, 2015), the UN has accomplished a lot to help maintain peace and meet humanitarian needs around the world over the decades of its existence for its approximately 200 members (193 currently according to the UN website). Learn more about the organization by clicking on the link to the overview page on its website.

For many of the countries that belong to the UN, the UN is a key (if not the key) was to express concerns and seek help when needed militarily, financially, etc. Disaster relief and peacekeeping forces are only two aspects of its services.

It's wonderful that representatives of so many nations speaking so many languages can come together in peace to express their views and seek to work together to make the world a better place. Certainly there are a lot of selfish motives. And certainly a few powerful nations exercise much control, especially on the powerful UN Security Council, where five major nations wield veto power. However, despite this, the UN may be the best human source to seek help from for most of the poor nations in the world that lack a major military force (or a major economy).

Money: Some Things It Can (and Cannot) Buy

Money is valued greatly in our society for what it can do. But there are many things that it cannot do.

The Norwegian writer Arne Garborg wisely stated that money "can buy food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; knowledge but not wisdom; glitter, but not beauty; fun, but not joy; acquaintances, but not friends; servants, but not faithfulness; . . . ." (as quoted in an English translation on various websites, including MindYourDecisions.com, Quoteland.com, Azquotes.com, and numerous other websites with slight variations in wording.

People who love money so much that they put getting financial wealth first in their lives may get a lot of money through dishonesty or other means, but they won't enjoy themselves. I feel that the important thing to remember is that if we do what is right, our needs are typically taken care of.

Whether a person has a few coins as in the picture below, a huge stack of paper money, or large quantities of money in the bank, the money can't make a person happy.

  

Put the Highest Righteous Authority, God, First

Jesus' words in Matthew 6:25-33 offer a Christian perspective on this. Please consider reading them, especially if you are a Christian.

As I see it, people who put obeying the highest righteous authority, God, first by caring about others, finding a need and filling it, making good use of their time, etc., usually find that they get their needs met either through getting the things they need or getting the money to buy them, along with the ability to enjoy them.

Also, try to remember that some very poor people in monetary terms are/were very joyous because of their blessings, and many wealthy are/were not joyous due to worries about losing their money, fear that someone will steal their money or kill them for it, quarrels with friends and/or relatives over money, poor health, etc.

What is the ideal situation for humans living on Earth? Ideally, perhaps we could all live in a "garden of Eden" with food free for the taking from delicious trees nearby, as well as comfortable temperatures and a wonderful climate that let us enjoy living outdoors without needing to wear clothing, build shelter, or work for other needs. In this "garden of Eden," we could just enjoy ourselves, fellowship with others, and benefit from our blessings from God and others. And if the population of the Earth were smaller, perhaps we could all live in a geographical location that shares many of these characteristics.

Closing Thoughts

Regardless of where we live, we need to avoid succumbing to false and misleading advertising that tries to convince us to spend money on products or services we don't need. Years ago someone stated words similar to, "The purpose of advertising is to make someone unhappy and to convince them that the way to happiness is to buy the product that is being advertised." That statement makes much sense. (By the way, if anyone knows the source of the quote, please let me know. I heard it at least twice, including in a church sermon, but the minister didn't know the original source.)

I'll close by stating that true joy comes from within, from appreciating our blessings, not from what we buy. Let's seek to enjoy our blessings.

NOTE:

This article originally posted on October 5, 2015 was expanded from a comment I made on Facebook.com earlier the same day. 

This article was last revised on April 4, 2023.  

I Don't Understand Why Many "Christians" Hate All Muslims

I love Jesus' teachings to love even one's enemies. Given this teaching, I don't understand why many "Christians" hate all Muslims.

In fact, I frequently try to avoid reading posts in the media from "Christians" expressing hatred toward all Muslims and quoting verses (often out of context) from the Qur'an to support their views.

Instead, one could quote a verse from the Bible in the Old Testament that commands the Israelites to kill even babies and young children (I Samuel 15:1-3) and passages urging the Israelites to make war to steal their "Promised Land." One could also quote a passage in the Qur'an that states Christians and Jews are followers of the book and friends of Muslims (Surah 5:69). Quoting various verses can provide various views.

Sadly, too many radical Muslims and radical Christians quote verses out of context to create hatred. True followers of the highest righteous authority, God (or Allah, the Arabic word for God), would seek to help others, love one another, rather than hate.

I am blessed to have met many wonderful persons in both faiths and feel Muslims and Christians can work together to make the world a better place.

As I see it, the problem often is leaders who seek to sow hatred for their own often selfish purposes. Radical "Muslim" leaders and radical "Christian" leaders who take advantage of gullible followers for their own selfish purposes need to be held accountable.

In the "war on terror" there is terrorism committed by individuals on both sides, as is typically the case in war. Remember that many fine Christians served on both sides even in World War II.

The Qur'an does seem to differ from the Bible in the sense that the early Surahs in the Qur'an seem to be more positively focused, with the latter ones focused more on what could be considered "holy wars." With the Bible, the Old Testament discusses the Jews as a chosen race that are called to make "holy wars" and steal land for their own "Promised Land." Then in the New Testament the focus is on the the teachings of Jesus and the Apostle Paul to love even one's enemies.

My Christian faith may bias me, but I like the progression in the Bible better than that of the Qur'an. Furthermore, I find Jesus' teaching to love even one's enemies better than the teachings of Islam (or Judaism) that I have read--and far superior to "Christianity" as many practice it today. I feel that my Christian faith instructs me to care for all people, whether Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, atheists, agnostics, or whatever. Let's all seek to help each other and we can make ourselves and the world a better place.

NOTE: This September 27, 2015 blog post is expanded from a comment and post that I made on Facebook.com on September 26, 2015.