Dear DR1 Message Board,

It is very difficult to express the grief I feel for my people, for my city. I am a native New Yorker, I work for Accenture, who had a presence in the WTC, and has people missing. I know people who are missing, and share in their family's grief.

Along with the rest of the country, I want Revenge! After my initial shock, I wanted something done to hurt whom ever did this. I wanted the Arm Forces to Go and bomb people left and right... But that would be a reaction that would have severe consequences. WAR would NOT be the PRUDENT thing to do. By adopting a strong military retaliation, we would be stepping into a situation that would be setting the world up for an Apocalyptic Era.

Let me ask you something, if a student calls his teacher "Stupid!" What is the best thing that the Teacher can do? For Starters, the teacher can react by punishing the Student, so that the student will never think about doing that again... On the other hand, the teacher can engage the student in a dialogue to find out why the student did what he did. The latter approach, by far, is the more beneficial b/c it gets to the route of the student's problem. It engages the student to think, reflect, and to learn how to deal with strong feelings in ways that are not violent or hurtful. By punishing the student without engaging him in a conversation, the teacher would be reacting to the Student's childishness in a negative way, showing the student that the way to deal with a problem is to be more powerful than your adversary. Similarly, the teacher would not be getting any closer to determining why the Student acted the way he did. Maybe the reason why the student lashed out was because he is being teased, bullied, can't understand the class work, has problems at home, et cetera. But by punishing the student, the teacher would not be getting any closer to the issue.

What does this mean for the US right now? Let's say the US goes in and bombs Afghanistan and Manages to Get Usama Bin Laden, what would that accomplish? would it guarantee that the terrorist attacks would end? No. Would it Deal with the issues that led to the terrorists attacks? No. It would be setting the stage for the next Bin Laden. It's time to stop the US's tic for tac mentality. Why not take the Higher road and engage our foes in a dialogue, instead of adopting a reactionary WAR which would lead in the lost of lives and money, and accomplish very little. If anything, a WAR against terrorism should not be fought with Guns and planes, it should be fought with patience and common sense.

Listen, the people who did this are not stupid. They are hoping that the US will react instead of engage the suspected terrorists (nations). They are hoping that the US’s actions will lead to an erosion of support for moderate Muslim governments in the middle east help radicals take control of moderate Muslim countries. Bin Laden sees himself as a Salidin. He sees the US’s presence in the middle east as an extension of the crusade. By acting as the aggressors we’ll be playing into his hand, and help the extremist gain power in the middle east.

Cooler heads must prevail. A military WAR against terrorism will only help accomplish the terrorists’ goals. Let’s not play into their hands. Let’s take the higher road and deal with the situation by a diplomatic front, not a military one.

Yours truly,
Eddie Gonzalez