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The Senselessness of the Mumbai Bombings

This terrorist attack is not only senseless but also tragic. I was in the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower by the Gateway to India training butlers in the fine art of superior service last summer: to see this landmark and historic building on fire, and to learn that some of the people I knew had been killed or injured, to see refinement reduced to the level of savagery, was dispiriting and a poor reflection of where we have managed to climb as Mankind. Force never ever achieves any betterment, all it does is destroy, whether in Baghdad, Beirut, Gaza, Guatemala, Myanmar or Mumbai, whether Columbian drug lords or MS13, Hutu militia or misguided militaries attacking without provocation… they all terrorize and lay waste, scaring land and people alike.

 

Maybe try killing with kindness, it’ll get you further and faster. When Hamas lobs a puny missile your way, lob one back filled with lollipops for the kids, not explosives and phosperous. Worth a try, no? Cheaper, too. And maybe let them build their area, have access to medical supplies… help them survive better. Would Hamas retain a belligerent platform for its terrorism with this sort of assistance? I am sure the culture and politics go back decades and even millenia, but that is what an eye for an eye results in. It’s a way of playing the game, I suppose, but maybe there are better ways of playing the game so everybody wins. The same goes for India and Pakistan.

It does not seem to be common knowledge that when two parties are fighting, there is always a hidden third party stirring it up. For instance, the Crusades between Christianity and Islam, who up to that period had co-existed peaceably for three centuries, was put into motion by the Venetian bankers. Who is stirring it up between India and Pakistan today (& for the last 60 years) and why? Worth finding out, so the likes of Mumbai doesn’t keep repeating.

At the time I was in the Taj Palace, I had reviewed the security and thought of the article I had written on the subject (http://www.modernbutlers.com/resources/article11.aspx). Taj’s security was next-to-non-existent, but then there is no real effective deterrent to people storming in with guns and a determination to die-the tried-and-proven modus operandi of the Assassins in Asia Minor 700 years ago or so.

Naturally, the people of India have risen and will rebuild. Thank goodness there are more people dedicated to building than destroying.