Searching Through the Debris

I find myself trying to write a blog at a time when I know I can't find the right words. And yet I feel compelled to write something.

I have been reading about today's car bombing in Pakistan. Yes, another car bomb.

But this one shook me.

Earlier today, a car exploded outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan. Early reports indicate at least 6 dead and approximately 35 injured.

Many suspect that al-Qaida is behind this bombing.

Background information:

You might remember back in September of 2005 when Denmark published some political cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad wearing a turban shaped like a bomb. These cartoons infuriated some followers of Islam because they believe it is wrong to depict Muhammad in any way. To do so could lead to idolatry, and for that reason it is prohibited.

These cartoons, appearing in Danish newspapers, have sparked riots and deaths on more than one occasion in the past three years.

But why now, you might ask? Well, supposedly, al-Qaida bigshot Ayman al-Zawahri encouraged Muslims to attack Danish targets because of these caricatures of Muhammad. According to Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080602/ap_on_re_as/pakistan;_ylt=Avr.4yXzmyqMq0wcvWk.9mwZO7gF),
IntelCenter reports that al-Zawahri recently said, "Denmark went too far in its aggression against Muslims by repeatedly slandering the Prophet, God's peace and prayers be upon him. I urge and incite every Muslim who can harm Denmark to do so in support of the Prophet."

So presumably, the Danish embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan's capital, was blown to pieces because a Danish newspaper depicted Muhammad in a way that some Muslims (including al-Qaida) did not like.

Here are a couple pictures of the aftermath:
















(Mian Khursheed/Reuters)

















(AFP/Aamir Qureshi)

So why does this bombing sadden me so much? Why this one when there have been so many others like it?

I don't know exactly.

Maybe it's because I recognize how senseless it is. How pointless it is to blow up an embassy in Pakistan because of something printed on paper in Denmark. Seriously, what did this bombing accomplish? 6 dead. Guess how many of them are from Denmark. Maybe one. The blast killed two Pakistani policemen, a Pakistani cleaner, a Pakistani handyman, and they are still trying to identify the others. One might have been from Denmark, but they aren't sure.

I think I'm also saddened because there is no end in sight. These cartoons were first published nearly 3 years ago. People died because of it then. And now, after a Danish newspaper reprints some of these images, now al-Qaida is calling for Muslims to murder more. All to "support the Prophet."

(I must also stop and wonder whether the irony is lost on these extremists. They are blowing people up to defend their Prophet because somebody depicted him with a turban shaped like a bomb. Hmmm. It's like a kid telling a bully, "I don't like you because you punch me." And then the bully gets mad and decks the kid.)

Maybe I'm just saddened because I don't understand how people can continue to adhere to these beliefs. I fully understand that not all Muslims are willing to blow up cars outside of embassies. In fact, the majority of those who follow Islam do not support the extremists. And yet, far too many are willing to kill for their God (and their Prophet), and I really don't know how we can change that.

















(AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)

The picture above shows a peaceful protest that occurred in Pakistan today, the day the car bomb exploded outside the Danish embassy. The banner declares that Pakistan should sever all diplomatic ties with Denmark. And I'm fine with that. If 300 men want to march in the streets, carrying a banner calling for a severing of diplomatic ties, that's fine by me. In America, we call that freedom of speech. Or the right to assemble.

But I am not fine with more senseless killing. I am not fine with a terrorist leader calling for Muslims to kill anyone and anything affiliated with a country that printed something disagreeable in a newspaper.

As one who follows a different God, I want to ask these Muslims, "Why must you kill to defend your Prophet, to defend your God? Why is your God not powerful enough to withstand slander? Why must you exact revenge for your God? Why must judgment come from your hands?"

But even more than those questions, I want to ask these bombers, "What do you think you are accomplishing? Do you honestly think you are doing something good? "

Denmark is not going to stop printing their caricatures because of this. Instead, the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen (which is a sweet name, by the way), is left sounding like George W. Bush following September 11:

"We will not give in to terrorists," says Rasmussen.

And so it continues...

Other embassies will most likely be evacuated before nightfall. And even once things calm down in Islamabad (you could certainly make a pun out of that name, huh?), the enmity will spill forth in another city, outside another embassy, or hotel, or streetcorner cafe...wherever another extremist decides to park a car full of explosives, or detonate a bomb strapped to his chest, all because someone is telling them they must destroy life in order to "defend their Prophet."

I think I've figured out the main reason why I am so bothered by this bombing. Typically, the more I think about something, the more it begins to make sense to me. But I can't pinpoint the logic behind violence like this. I can't find enough justification to even begin to comprehend the motives at work here.

And yet things like this keep happening.

I really don't understand why. And I can't accept that.



--Thanks for reading

Knock yourselves out...

I stumbled across this embeddable version of Guitar Hero III, and I decided to throw it on my blog.

So far I haven't been able to hit any notes. But maybe that's just me. If it's absolutely impossible, I'll take it back down. That would just annoy everyone who tried to actually play it. As funny as that might sound, I won't do that to you.

Have fun.


EDIT: I found out later that you have to hit ENTER while you hit the appropriate number key. Without hitting ENTER, you'll never hit a note. I played twice and my high score is 9500 on the first song. Now my fingers are tired, so I'm going to take a break.

Growling Tiger

Think of one thing that you're really good at. One thing.

Let's pretend that one thing is staring contests. You're the master of staring contests. Now let's say that all the best starers in the world get together for staring competitions. You have to stare over and over again for 4 day tournaments. And you're so good at staring that you beat all these other professional starers. And you do this regularly. And everyone expects you to win. Always.

Well, I'm realizing that staring contests was a horrible example. So hopefully you thought of something better that you're good at. Whatever that may be, the scenario above is what it would be like to be Tiger Woods.

PGA Tournaments pit all the best golfers in the world against each other, and they play 4 rounds, or four days, of golf. And, obviously, in keeping with how golf is played, the lowest score at the end of the tournament wins. Everyone else doesn't lose; they place. The golfer with the second-lowest score finishes second. (And he still gets a lot of money.) And for many golfers, a top 5 finish would be the highlight of their career.

But when Tiger Woods finishes anything other than first, you'll notice sports gurus referring to it as a loss for Tiger Woods (I'm sure, as competitive as he is, Tiger sees it the same way). But I think the suggestion that a second-place finish be considered a loss, in a field of all the best players in the world, in a sport where strokes can be determined by fractions of an inch, is just absolutely absurd.

In golf, not winning is not the same thing as losing.

If Ernie Els finishes 9th, Vijay Singh winds up 5th, Mickelson shoots 3 under on the final day and heads to the clubhouse in 8th... none of those pros "lose." Yet Tiger Woods finished 5th last weekend, and all week people have been talking about Tiger Woods "losing."

Here's why:

Tiger Woods is the best athlete ever. Ever.

Yes, better than Michael Jordan. I said it.

No one has ever been as dominant in their sport as Tiger Woods is on a golf course.

Here's a few numbers for ya:

-Heading into last weekend's PGA tournament, Tiger had won the last 5 tournaments in which he played (including every one thus far in 2008).

-Tiger had finished first in 7 of his last 8 tournaments, with the one exception being a second place finish on September 3, 2007 (a "loss," clearly).

And remember, he is playing against the whole field. Of professionals. All it should take is for one player to play great golf, and Tiger would get edged out. But this rarely happens. It's truly remarkable. Woods is just that dominant.

Last weekend, when he didn't win...when he was edged out by fellow professionals...did Tiger tip his hat to them and say "nicely done, chaps"? (I think that's how golfers talk, right?)

No, Tiger, the greatest athlete ever, decided to blame his loss on the photographers.

Come again?

That's right, those photographers, believe it or not, were taking pictures of him. And he heard their cameras click when he was in the middle of his backswing on an approach shot. Apparently this made Tiger flinch, pulling him off the shot a little...and instead of landing on the green his ball nearly went in the water.

Immediately after this, Tiger turned to the crowd and yelled at the photographers:

"The next time anyone takes a ****ing picture, I'll break his ****ing neck!"

You might want to read that quote again.

Right now you're thinking, "Tiger Woods said that?"

Yeah, Tiger Woods said that.

When asked on Monday about his outburst, he said that it's happened 3 or 4 times this year (can you believe that? People have been taking pictures of him...), and he's made a bogey on three of those holes. Apparently after we learn that photographers have made him bogey 3 holes this year we're supposed to think, "Well it's a wonder he didn't threaten to break their necks before!"

I should pause to point out that one of the reasons Tiger is so good is that he is a fierce competitor. As a competitive person myself, I can think of times (too many times, actually) when I have been frustrated or annoyed in the middle of a competition, and I have done things and said things that were inappropriate. In fact, I'm not proud of this, and I hesitate to post it, but during a competition I once told a girl, "If you weren't a girl, I'd punch you in the face."

Yeah, I said that (and I was 21 years old at the time).

I'm pretty sure though, if I had been asked about it the next day, I wouldn't have tried to provide background information that would justify a desire to punch that girl in the face. I would have been able to say, with my head down, "Yeah, I shouldn't have said that."

Tiger, on the other hand, smiled his patented smile and justified his outburst by saying that it's now happened 3 or 4 times (surely that warrants breaking a cameraman's neck, right?). When the interviewer pushed harder to get Tiger to address the severity of his response, Tiger smiled (of course) and said, "You have no idea what's said out there all the time on the golf course."

Then he repeated:

"That one shot took momentum away."

So again he is justifying his outburst.

From where I'm sitting, I don't even care if he's right. If I had been playing that hole and a photographer's clicking camera made me flinch, stripping me of my momentum and costing me the tournament...I'd be hacked off, too.

But the next day, I could still say, "I shouldn't have responded that way." ("Why don't I just eat some hay. I can lie by the bay. I think I may. What do you say?")

Like it or not, cameramen will be there. For that matter, so will birds. And heaven forbid that one of those creatures of flight might coo or chirp at the wrong time in the upcoming Master's tournament...

As much as I love Michael Jordan, I now firmly believe that Tiger is the most dominant athlete I've ever seen. And his competitive nature is the thing that makes him great.

But instead of pointing to photographers for costing him the win, Tiger should still be able to tip his hat to the competition on those rare Sunday afternoons when someone else is receiving the over-sized check.

And he should definitely have enough class to admit that there is really no excuse for threatening to break necks on a golf course. Golf, after all, is a gentleman's sport. And as the greatest ever, Tiger should be able to win (and lose) like a gentleman.

--Thanks for reading

P.S. I eventually did apologize to the girl who I would have punched in the face if she hadn't been a girl. And for the record, we were playing a sport and she was cheating. And it destroyed my momentum. And it had happened 3 or 4 times. And...uh...she was asking for it...

March Madness, Easter, and a Killer Robot

Warning: This is a hodgepodge. (On second thought, it's not really. But I'm not going to edit that out, because "hodgepodge" is a fun term.)

Looks like somebody at the calendar company should be losing their job. Easter in March? That's madness. Or "March Madness," more like it. (Picture me slapping my knee and making the I-think-I'm-so-funny face.)

I'm not thrilled about this new March/Easter arrangement. First of all, here in the suburbs of Chicago, they're predicting 6 inches of snow tomorrow. Easter eggs are not supposed to be hidden in snowdrifts. Unless you're from Canada. But Canadians don't celebrate Easter, so that's irrelevant. (What's that? They do?) Moving on...

The real reason I'm unhappy about Easter in March is that it conflicts with the NCAA tourney. Those who know me know that I love March Madness. Well, I also love spending Easter with my family. That's why I'll be driving to Ohio tonight...while the games are on TV. And that's why I'll be driving back to Illinois on Sunday...while the games are on TV. And then Saturday is my mom's birthday (while it always falls in the middle of March Madness, it usually lands a safe distance away from Easter festivities). So we'll be going out to eat to celebrate her birthday on Saturday night...while the games are on TV.

In short, due to this new March/Easter arrangement, I'll miss about three quarters of the first 2 rounds of March Madness. That's just plain sad. But, there is one thing that will make up for it:

Cadbury Mini-Eggs. The best candy ever made. (They recently introduced a Christmas version of these eggs--although the Christmas treats are not eggs, but balls--but somehow, even though they're the same candy, they don't taste as good as these eggs. But I digress...)

Even though I won't get to see much March Madness this weekend, I will have the chance to eat many Cadbury Mini Eggs. Or, I guess you could say I will be eating "Many-Eggs." (Picture me being disgusted by that terrible joke.)

Madness and Mini-Eggs aside, I'm really looking forward to going home to Ohio and spending time with family--mine and Barbie's.

Completely unrelated... a co-worker/friend/arch-nemesis of mine shared a link with me yesterday, and I feel compelled to pass it on.

As I read it yesterday, my emotions went through this progression: interested, incredulous, scared, impressed, and then very sad. Perhaps your experience will be similar:

Deadly Robot





On that note, I will wrap this up.

I hope you all have a happy Easter, and I hope you enjoy some (more than me) March Madness and some (less than me, I'm sure) Cadbury Mini-Eggs. And take a moment or two to think about just how unthinkable the Easter story was and is.

--Thanks for reading.