Walking in the Valley A weekly column for those who live and walk in Silicon Valley by Barbara Dahlgren

Always Remember Column for the week of May 26-June 1, 2002

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Memorial Day used to be called Decoration Day. It's origin dates back to the years shortly after the Civil War when the graves of Union and Confederate soldiers were "decorated" with flowers. It was a way of remembering. Little did those loved ones know that many more wars would be fought and many more flowers would be placed on graves of brave soldiers who fought in wars. And today wars are still fought. The latest is the one on terrorism.

Those we place in office declare wars. The average person usually doesn't get a vote on that isssue. Where do you think adages like "heavy is the head that wears the crown" and "ours is not to reason why; ours is but to do or die" come from? War is a deadly game of strategic planning, second-guessing, espionage, and tough decisions. Our only hope is that those in charge make more good decisions than bad. And who is to judge whether decisions are good and which are bad? These are the things that will be discussed and debated for years. Dropping the bomb on Japan did end World War II but it caused much destruction and loss of innocent life. Was it a good decision or a bad one? You can Monday morning quarterback all you want, but that doesn't change the way the game was played.

Now the media is filled with hype about what information and/or suspicions floating around pre 9/11. People think that the job of the media is to keep the layperson informed. Their premise is we need to know EVERYTHING. However, you are badly mistaken if you think the motives of the media are noble. They have only one desire and that is to sell their product. Hey, they have to make a living, too. And the more controversy they stir up, the more papers and magazines they sell.

True, changes probably do need to be made in the way our government assimilates information. After all, they wrote the book on red tape. But to give the impression that the whole 9/11 tragedy could have been avoided if certain information had reached the right person is irresponsible. It's Monday morning quarterbacking. It's living your life suspended in "would have, could have, should have, if only" animation. They didn't have specific times, dates, places, targets, or people involved. And even if they had full knowledge, it's doubtful that Americans would have believed that terrorists would actually hi-jack a plane to use as a missile. It simply wasn't in the range of possibilities we would believe could have happened in the U.S. at that time. Most of us still deluded ourselves into believing we lived in some movie world where Harrison Ford would rush in at the last minute to save atrocities from happening.

Do we really want to help in the battle against terrorism? Then don't believe everything you read in the newspapers. And pray for our leaders. (Colossians 1:16; Titus 3:1-3; Hebrews 13,7,17) Believe it or not God has control.
(1 Peter 2:12-14; Psalms 76:12) And that's something to always remember.

©May 2002

Be sure to visit this page every week to read the next edition of Walking in the Valley. You can write to the author at bydahlgren@aol.com.