Random reflections

I had to do a bunch of ironing today. My usual method of doing so involves playing a movie in the background while I complete that fairly boring chore. When the kidlets are all off at school, that often means the movie is at least rated PG-13, if not R. When else would I have the opportunity to watch such movies?

Today's movie choice was V for Vendetta. I guess I was just in the mood for something a little more thought-provoking than my usual fare. I consider any movie where the hero is a terrorist to be quite thought-provoking, although not necessarily in a good way.

Actually, it made me think of a conversation I had with a fellow teacher in late September of 2001. In the immediate aftermath of 9/11, she was having her sixth grade Language Arts students write about what it meant to be a hero. I remember her angrily blustering to me later about how one student dared to ask if the terrorists were heroes to other terrorists. She supposedly told him the answer was no. There was no way that terrorists could be heroes to anyone, as far as she was concerned. I remember thinking that she just didn't quite get what the student was really asking. I attempted to argue on the student's behalf, but was essentially ignored.

For the record, my husband was at the World Trade Center at the time of the attack on 9/11. He lived, but was never quite the same afterwards. Who could be? Neither he nor I could even look at newspaper clippings or watch television for months afterwards because of how horrific it was. The imagery was just too painful. That Language Arts teacher insisted on hanging the graphic images from that day up in her classroom. She used it in her lesson plans. She had no personal ties to anyone who was there, and she made that painfully obvious to those of us who could not even enter her classroom without violently shaking. My husband of not quite six months could have died. Thousands of others did. Yet I was the one arguing with that other teacher that what the student was asking should have received a different answer.

Was what the terrorists did on 9/11 reprehensible? Absolutely. Was it immoral? Arguably. Was it a horrific tragedy that never should have occurred? I would say yes. But that was not what that sixth grader was asking. He was asking if, to other terrorists, were those individuals who caused such vile actions actually heroes? I think the answer should have been yes. That does not make it right. That does not make it acceptable. But often, a person is a hero based solely on the interpretation of their actions by those learning of them. In the movie I watched today, the terrorist was the hero of the story. That does not make his actions right. But it does make you think.

I've heard it said that history is written by the winners. I wish I knew who originated that thought to give him or her the proper credit. I did a quick Google search on the definition of terrorism. "The use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims" was the first thing that popped up on screen. Gee, sounds to me like the Colonists were terrorists according to Great Britain. We certainly don't see them that way now, but that's essentially what they were. Were they right in demanding their freedom? I think so. Were they justified in fighting for that political end, killing those they killed, and destroying property, too? Does the ends justify the means? Our country's history books would probably say yes.

I am no history scholar. I am not suggesting that terrorism should be allowed to continue. I believe that using violence is never justified, let alone to pursue a political goal. Violence creates more violence. Escalation is inevitable, and no one wins. Death, destruction, and carnage are the awful side effects. Regardless, violence will continue to be used. That will likely never end until the whole of the Earth is destroyed. To those who side with the violent parties, those terrorists are heroes, just like the character V was in that 2005 film that I watched while ironing. They are fighting for that which they believe. That does not make it right, and it sure better make all of us think a little bit more about what we see on the news every day.