Random acts of violence are frightening to all because… well they’re RANDOM.  So we feel POWERLESS.

Terrorism incites fear. Fear incites prejudice. Prejudice incites anger… it’s an ugly trajectory.  And when you think about it, it’s pretty similar to the response the Republican Presidential Nominee elicits.  As he mouths-off,  he incites fear… incites prejudice… incites anger… Thinking of him as our Commander in Chief is really SCARY!

But, if my mom were around she’d help me see the good that happened in the news-making 48 hours between last Saturday to Monday.  I know, I know… what’s positive about the acts of terrorism in New York, New Jersey and St. Cloud, Minnesota you ask?

It’s the excellent example set by everyday Americans who STEPPED-UP, SAVED LIVES and COUNTERED EVIL!  Americans of Different Ethnicities. Different Sexes. Different Economic Groups.

Heroes Among Us

A SHOUT-OUT to the BRAVE …

• Officer Jason Falconner, a former Police Chief in Minnesota who was off duty at the St. Cloud Shopping Center when he heroically and single-handedly brought an abrupt halt to the mass stabbing by shooting the knife-wielding madman wearing a Security Officer’s Uniform.
• The Task Force, FBI,  New York and New Jersey Police Force, who in a well-coordinated effort quickly identified and apprehended the New York and New Jersey bombing suspect before there was any loss of life.
• New Yorker, Jane Shreibman who spotted the pressure-cooker bomb in her neighborhood, rushed into her Chelsea apartment and dialed 911 before the bomb could detonate.
• The Two Homeless Men (Sorry, I don’t know your names) who discovered the backpack filled with explosives and reported it to authorities, saving “hundreds of lives.”
• Bar Owner, Harinder Bains, who after watching CNN recognized the suspect in front of his bar and immediately led police to the scene so they could apprehend him.

Mr. Bains, a Sikh American said proudly –

I did what every American would’ve done.

If only that were true, Mr. Bains. If only that were true….

“What unites us defines us”