Pray for peace

Is the world no longer a safe place to live in?

The dastardly act of taking innocent lives without warning is sending a dark message that no one is safe from suicidal fanatics anywhere in this planet. And that’s exactly what the perpetrators of last Tuesday’s New York City disaster want us to believe. They want us to live in fear. They want the forces of evil to reign. They want to destroy the symbols of peace and progress in the Free World.

The world will never be the same again until those who masterminded the attack on the World Trade Center and the US Pentagon are brought to justice.

If there is no retaliation, if the perpetrators and their followers continue to sow the seeds of destruction, there can never be peace. We will be cowering in fear forever.

The forces of evil will not stop at turning the World Trade Center into rubble or sending shock waves throughout the US. They are out to destroy the world. To them, there is no value to human life. They are the devil incarnate.

So what is the terrorists’ motive? Why are they on a mission of destruction? To rule the world? To honor their god? To ravage others for their misery? Theirs is a warped sense of values – that’s why terrorists are so dangerous. They strike when you’re not looking and are so cowardly that they deign to deny responsibility for their crimes.

In a war against terrorists, there are no rules of engagement, no terms of agreement. Forget the Geneva Convention. Terrorists take no prisoners. They’ll resort to the most inhuman form of warfare even if it means the loss of their own lives.

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My brother, who lives in New Jersey, took our family to the World Trade Center during a visit last summer. It was late afternoon and office workers filed out of the Twin Towers to go home. We had a snack at one of the fast food eateries on the ground floor. We marveled at the architectural perfection of the Center, a landmark of the Big Apple.

When we watched the Center crumble to pieces on TV last Tuesday night, it was like turning a beautiful dream into a nightmare. The landmark that once stood proudly in the New York skyline was gone.

Our immediate thought was to our relatives in the US. How were they? Where were they? Were those who live in the East Coast safe?

My sister’s daughter, who lives in Falls Church, Virginia, is here on a visit and was painfully distraught. She graduated at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, a few years ago and used to live in Manhattan. Her sister moved out of Manhattan just a few weeks back to teach at a school in Falls Church. Who knows what fate would’ve befallen my nieces if they still lived in Manhattan?

My sister’s husband, a senior economist at the World Bank, was sent home from work the morning of the disaster. He rode a train from Washington, D, to Falls Church and walked over 30 minutes to reach home. His neighbor, a Japanese, walked all the way from Washington, D, to Falls Church to avoid taking any form of mass transportation.

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We don’t know what will happen next. The US will retaliate, for sure, once it is determined who were the perpetrators of last Tuesday’s massacre. Then what?

In the Philippines, we, too, are vulnerable to senseless attacks from terrorists, not to mention criminals of other persuasions.

What is the world coming to? We shudder at the thought of a global war which could lead to total annihilation, what with the existence of nuclear arms and other weapons of mass destruction.

Now, more than ever, let us pray for world peace. Let us turn to God for His protection. Let us pray that our world leaders are enlightened to do what must be done to preserve peace and order. Gather your family at the end of every day and pray together.

We live in dangerous times. With God on our side, we will be resolute and we will be fearless.