Bombs Affect Us All And Our Cats
Bombs affect us all.
It is almost impossible to write about cat pictures or cat behavior etc. when people have been so cruelly killed and injured in two explosions by bombs placed near the end of this year’s Boston marathon (2013). I have to address that today, at least briefly, and as best as I can, hard though it is.
I believe that we are all connected. By “all”, I mean all living creatures. You can go wider than that. The bombs in Boston have already affected me. They upset me and make me depressed because they remind me how crazy the world is. They remind how much better it could and should be. The bombs wrench hope from us. Without hope there is almost nothing.
Humans should be smart enough after about six million years of evolution to be able to live together, and with all animals, harmoniously. Apparently we are millions of years away from this simple goal.
If it depresses me, it probably does the same thing to hundreds of millions of other people all over the world. The world is one place. If I am fed up with the world because of these bombs then I am not going to function as well for a while and that affects my cat. Also cats pick up on a person’s emotions so there is a direct impact there.
There are wider implications. Terrorist bombs can affect a country’s expenditure – increased security etc. – which in turn can increase debt and a country’s debt paralyses a nation and prevents it growing.
Whatever affects people affects their cats. That has to be the case because cats live in our world. If it is safe to do so, perhaps this is another argument for letting a cat go outside as it allows a cat to be in his world for a moment. When a cat is roaming around a garden smelling the scents and hearing the sounds he is transported to a cat world.
The sad fact is that although the Boston marathon bombs affect me negatively, many people will be pleased. This is how dysfunctional the world is.
On behalf of Charlie and me, I would like to say we are thinking of all the injured people and the families of the dead. We wish the injured a speedy recovery. However, I wonder if the damage to the American psyche is permanent. Big events change countries.
Yes, he was bleeding profusely and pretty weak. No tussle when negotiator arrived and told him to give up. He did without a fight. He’s now in federal custody. I’m glad – they’ll treat him like a combatant; the rules are different when you mess with terrorism. In hindsight, there were signs…isn’t that always the way?
The law enforcement community was given kudos – miles of people lined sidewalks clapping and holding up signs of support and thanks as they drove by. All transport is open again. Only 2 areas remain cordoned off – the Marathon finish line and the boat area where the arrest was mad to secure all evidence. After all the cheering and newscasters go away, cats everywhere will have uninterrupted kitty time and naps again! Good thing cats live in the moment; unless they were around the gunfire, I doubt they’ll have any long-term, negative effects (paws crossed).
I am certain that if this happened in the UK the police would still be scratching their heads and a capture would be about a month down the line. If ever. The total commitment by law enforcement in this instance impressed me. Something really happened and fast. I like that.
As of this writing (Friday, 7:03am EST), bomb suspect #1 has been killed. Bomb suspect #2 is on the loose, armed & dangerous. The entire transit system is shut down so no one can go to work and businesses in the Boston area are closed until further notice. As it turns out, the 2 are brothers who admitted to being the marathon bombers! They bragged about it as they were robbing a store! They’re 19 & 20ish and have legally lived here for a year and are from Russia – they are of Chech (sp?) origin and not students.
Last night, they robbed a convenience store, killed an MIT police officer (ambushed), critically injured another officer, stole another car and promptly got into a shootout with police as they were dumping bombs out the car window as they were driving. All incendiary devices have been safely recovered. The dead bomber was not only shot, his body also suffered multiple injuries that appear to be bomb-related. HA! The irony is not lost here.
Relating to cats, there was a huge gunfight (the kind you see in the movies) in a relatively quiet neighborhood. I would imagine every cat (and dog) in that area went ballistic. The entire city is in lockdown.
Praying for your safety also, Gail. I hear the police are doing house to house searches in a twenty block radius. Will that affect you?
FBI have two suspects with pictures for the public to help them track them down. They seem to be American immigrants. But I won’t speculate.
The 2 pix are of the 2 suspects – 1 26/year old is dead and was, in fact, a 2nd year student at UMass Dartmouth College. The college has evacuated. The 2nd bomber is 19 and was an honor student, with plans for college. His guidance counselor is devastated as he showed such promise. Apparently, they’ve been in the USA legally for about 10 years. They are Chechnya born. Their family is in shock but has disowned them for what they’ve done. No one seems to know what happened to them to go on this rampage, but the 2nd one is still on the loose and everything is still in lockdown.
This is similar to Pakistani Muslim immigrants in England who want to destroy society here. There are many plots to kill us.
Thank you, Ruth. It appears they’ve closed in with the house-to-house. Then, there are reports he may have slipped the dragnet as he ditched the car they were looking for. The searches are not in my neighborhood, but not that far away.
I heard this morning that the second suspect has been caught. He was wounded and holed up in a boat. A person saw blood on the boat. Shots were exchanged and he was captured, injured, but alive. Hope he survives.
The Boston police and FBI did an awesome job. I am massively impressed by the speed and commitment of their work.
I bet the cats couldn’t understand why they were in lock down. A lot of things humans do are alien and strange to cats.
Talking about the “Boston Marathon Bombing”, seems that terrorists in the West are aping their counterparts from the developing World. “Pressure Cooker Bombs” was devastatingly used in Mumbai and other Indian city’s , killing scores of people a trademark of a local Indian terrorist organization called “The Indian Mujahedin”. Honestly, i consider myself doubly lucky and blessed to be alive today having narrowly missed bomb blasts on a few occasions, most notably the “1993 Mumbai serial blasts” that happened only a mere 100 meters from my residence.The World is becoming a unsafe place and today no Country, City or locality can safely say that their security system is fool-proof.I can understand Michaels wrath for blaming Asians,particularly Pakistanis for being the cause of violence in England as i definitely feel that the “Boston Bombing” has an Asian link and the most common “Jehadi groups” are from Afghanistan and Pakistan origin.If only we humans could borrow a intelligent way of living from animals then the World would be a better place for us humans. No animal kills another animal without reason or just for pleasure as we humans do.At present i am happy living with my pets in a artificial cocooned World in the safety of my house little realizing that any of my tours or even a walk outside my residence could be life-threatening at the present rate of which terrorism is exploding .hope sanity prevails and terrorism is brought under control and totally vanquished.
Thanks Rudolph. There are many Pakistani people – all young males radicalised in mosques etc. – in England who detest the country and want to destroy it. It is totally weird and we can’t talk about it because it is not politically correct and we are declared racists. This is crazy. It is a fact and if we don’t address it nothing will change.
People have got used to being blown up indiscriminately but there was a time when it did not exist.
Praying for your continued safety, Rudolph!
As Ruth (Monty’s Mom) said, PoC tries, where appropriate, to go as far as possible behind the cute cat addiction for which the internet is famous – to look at much wider issues: ideologies and cultures etc.
There are piles of cute cats and fun stuff on PoC but we owe to cats and ourselves to think a bit deeper sometimes.
Unfortunately what would straighten the world out is a pandemic. But most of us would probably die and the cats would be killed shortly after all the livestock.
I would love to live in England or Scotland. I don’t understand how anyone could hate England. I have ancestors from Worchestershire and Northamptonshire. England is in my blood.
But animals wouldn’t die Elisa only the evil greedy power hungry human race would die out and a good thing too.
You see, Rose, you do agree with me that all humans are evil, because if we died out the animals would be better off. I can’t say that isn’t true. The whole planet would be better off. But in saying that we do oppose God who chooses to love and forgive us. I have a very hard time getting my head around that. I understand George Herbert’s statement in one of his poems: “Let my shame go where it doth deserve.” But the poet joins the heavenly banquet. I’m not sure anymore that I can. How can evil filth join the heavenly banquet and belong there?
Would any animals be killed on shelters if we all gave sacrificially to save them, the way Elisa has? Do I give sacrificially or am I as greedy as the people Marc deplores? I’m greedy. I take a part time tutoring job and a little bit of that money does make it into the donation jar at The Cat Network, but a much greater percent got spent at the mall on myself. Stimulating the economy, I said. BS, I was buying clothes and earrings when my drawer is full of jewelry and I have so many clothes they don’t fit in my closet when they are all ironed.
It is not ok that man has raped the earth digging up fossil fuels and burning them to pollute everything. Just because it’s not spelled out in the Ten Commandments doesn’t mean it’s not a sin. He gave us a brain. But one of my favorite things in this world is big V-8 engines and muscle cars with rumbly mufflers. I once told a friend that I really needed to stop speeding because whether I got caught or not it’s a sin. He said the real sin is driving a car in the first place. He was right, but I hang out at Bob’s and cheer him on when he puts a huge engine into a tiny car. That is not ok. I am evil because I like things that are sinful but I can’t stop myself.
I still eat meat, which is ok for Christians, but it’s supposed to only be at high feast days. We make every day Christmas or Easter and it’s killing us. We’re supposed to eat meat only once in a great while and reflect upon doing so that Christ died to be our meat and drink indeed. I don’t reflect. I just ate two brats last night and enjoyed them without a moments reflection on what the fact that we eat meat at all signifies. That God Himself had to die just as an innocent animal died to give me life and sustenance.
The fact that I take care of a small black cat who would otherwise have perished as a stray doesn’t negate all the crappy things that are true about me. Because taking care of Monty is what I should do anyway. I should have found a way to save his siblings and failed. That also is not ok.
Some day I’m just going to say, “Let my shame go where it doth deserve” and turn on my Toronado in the garage and gas myself. Sans catalytic converter it will take very little time. If the world would be better without people then it would be the first good thing I’ve ever done. The only reason I haven’t done it is that paradoxically God would not call it good.
George Herbert’s poem doesn’t end at “let my shame go where it doth deserve” and it is his focus on the paradoxical love of God for beings who do not deserve love that has helped me to continue to live a life I don’t deserve filled with blessings I do not merit. Any human who is honest knows none of us merit all the good things we have. The love of a companion animal may be the greatest of all these blessings, a small glimpse of Eden where man and all animals lived in harmony and a foreshadowing of the day when the lamb will lay down with the lion.
Thank you Ruth,you have given me much to reflect on.
I can’t afford luxuries being a single mother(by fate not by choice)I work for every penny I need to pay our way and am bringing my children up as best I can in the hopes they will be good people and always care for others and for animals.
We are vegan as why should animals,birds and fish die for our food and drink,we don’t need to eat them or drink baby calves rightful milk to survive.
No God would not like it if you took your own life Ruth,I think he would like it better if you stayed around to do what you can on his behalf.
OK I’d better mention CATS before someone jumps on my comment, like Elisa I rescue cats but I never feel I’m doing enough,maybe I need to do more to feel better about myself.But I have to budget carefully as I would never expect anyone else to subsidise my own choice of taking in needy animals.
Ruth I used to shop when I got depressed and charge everything. Now I write and play with my CraftArtist software. Anything to distract the mind. You need to find a good hobby to keep the bad thought away. You have a serious problem in not believing how much we all love you. That needs to change before you drive yourself crazier.
I have several hobbies, Elisa, but when I feel like garbage it’s hard to do any of them. I haven’t written any new music in a long while. I was going to set Grandpa’s poem “The Secondhand Car” to music. My mom would enjoy that. I can’t do it though. I should be able to. I can crank out a song in a week, but I can’t do it if I don’t believe I’m worth anything. The other day I couldn’t even play a hymn on the organ. I gave up practicing and left. And today I had to ask the PT how a patient is doing on stairs to complete her note and as soon as she answered I knew I had done stairs with the person yesterday, had forgotten to write it down in the unofficial (just between us therapists documentation) and didn’t recall it at all today. I completed that patient’s formal note while wondering what else I could be forgetting. Maybe nicer weather coming will help, if it ever does. I want to check out a new park in Williams Bay, with walking trails by a river– once that river isn’t at flood stage.
To be very creative maybe you have to be a little crazy. But I don’t even have creativity anymore. When you believe you are nothing your brain can make that true. It’s paralyzingly. Repentance is one thing, but this is beyond that. Repent for what you’ve done or not done, but I feel like I must do a horrible penance for who I am and Lutherans don’t even believe in penance. But if I was supposed to be dead I’d have been with my first husband in his airplane when it went down. But who would have saved Monty then?
Ruth this is an amazing and very special comment. I work in historic motor racing and have an immediate and obvious problem with the fact. I also, like you, find it hard not to be acutely aware of the countless bad things I do. I also, like you, think that I’d be doing the world a favor if I got rid of myself for good. I will absolutely not have children. I also am not even sure if being in a relationship, having a partner and all that is a good idea because it requires huge amounts of energy and I would be wasting all my energy on another human, and on surviving a shared life with another human. It happens everytime and I have had my fair share of relationships. There are many compromises I must make with regard to my relationship with this planet. Is it so important to spend a life working to co-exist with another human, putting that before anything and everything else?
I really like what you said at the end of the comment about the love of a companion animal being a glimpse of something good and true and totally real, my words for ‘like Eden’. I don’t think I want to ever lose that which means I am limited to not being in a relationship because I will be taken away from what I care about the most. Futhermore everybody else is doing that job and having babies while they are at it, many of them, and I find it all to look very selfish in this day and age. When I see families with kids and the couple with all their needs and activities and stuff and responsibility of bringing more people into the world I am not sure about it all. Isn’t it selfish to say ‘I’m going work hard to create and grow this familly and I’ll do everything I can so that my familly is happy and has what it wants’ – it just looks selfish on the outside. I don’t have the same programming as the people who say it’s their right and what people are supposed to do. People in families are always neurotic and uptight and have issues and problems with eachother. I am lucky that I don’t really have any familly and my mum and dad were not selfish and let me do what I wanted and helped me to be who i wanted to be. I feel lucky that I didn’t have a huge familly sucking my energy making me feel frustrated and different like i see with people all around me all the time. What is up with it all – all us people destroying the world and not having the energy to do anything about it because we have personal problems and issues that come first and familly to worry about.
I want to be the last person with my last name in my familly to exist. I’d be proud to end the familly name. The only thing we all have left that we can really give to the world is our own passing. Otherwise for me personally I think sharing love with animals is what I need to do with my time. I don’t need children when I have my cats. They are different and much nicer. Not a substitute but something that is already there and deserving of all my energy. If spent my energy trying to get along with and having a familly perhaps that would be a waste of energy and not helpful to anyone.
I think before the financial collapse it might have been less unreasonable to consider having a familly. Perhaps in the 60’s it was still even ok or a good idea. But since about 2005 it has become a clear non option. This is not a world in which to add more of the same. It might have sounded radical to say this once, but now it is obvious and normal.
The fact you take care of a small black cat is great. Think of what kinds of nonsense we could be getting into if we weren’t caring for our animals. They remain the final thing that makes any sense.
Your comment was very direct. It’s hard having ideals because we know when we don’t meet them.
Marc, at least I’m not the only person who loves everything about the internal combustion engine while at the same time hates everything about the internal combustion engine. I enjoy watching my friend Bob put a car back together with the same awe and pleasure I get watching a great artist at work or listening to my organ teacher play Bach on the organ. At the same time I know a big block engine is just nothing but wasteful and polluting and since when does a compact car need a bigger engine in it than my big old Toronado has? But I still think it’s cool. I’ll bet you would too. What is the matter with us? My husband says we are allowed to use the earth’s resources. Use but not abuse. Humans are always given to excess, I think. You and I seem to share a live of mechanical things. You have your bicycle collection. I have my antique manual typewriter collection. We probably like these things for similar reasons.
I don’t have kids either and don’t care. I’d rather try to care for kids who are already here. We have our hands full doing that.
I work in fireworks too and it’s weird how an explosion can seem wonderful– up in the sky where it hurts no one– but it can also be so terrible as in this bombing. Whenever I load a tube (mortar) with a fireworks shell I wish each one a happy journey. “That’s stupid,” said one of the other workers. “It’s going to blow up.” Yes. It’s going to do what it was designed to do where it was designed to do it. A happy journey means it goes off in the sky, not in the tube or three feet out of the tube or on it’s way back down or on the ground after it becomes the dreaded “round tripper.” When we do what we are made to do we have a happy journey through life. Cats always behave as they were created to. They have happy lives if man doesn’t stand in their way of that. We can have happy lives too if we do what we were made to do– be kind to each other, care for the earth. It’s that simple.
Wow Ruth, manual typewriters, that is sooo cool. I love those things. They are mechanical works of art. Beautiful and practical. I picked up a couple from the trash in Canada and kept them just because they are fascinating and wonderfully mechanical. Just like a bicycle they are entirely human powered. What a super fantastic thing to collect. I bet you have some really interesting and different ones. Another thing I love is mechanical old human powered sewing machines. I love the older things that can be fixed if they break and worked on by anyone – not much or no plastic. I’d love to see a chinese or foreign alphabet manual typewriter. I would imagine a Chinese one has many more keys than a roman one. I even typed my essay on a manual typewriter for the one class where they just wouldn’t allow handwritten work. It was fun. I used tippex like in the old days to erase. I even had a couple electronic typewriters that were in the trash. They had these balls with all the letters on them or discs which would move to bring the right letter to the paper. I kept the discs and balls. I studied printmaking in art school and had fun using those. You could roll the ball across a paper and see what letters it printed. Fun!
It’s funny because fireworks are like anti bombs. They are the same thing physically at heart but with entirely opposing intentions. They also came first. It’s always like that. Nice things get used for nefarious purposes and get redesigned. Thats a very symbolic thing isn’t it.. The creative use of explosions versus the destructive. Where I was as a kid in France we’d see the international fireworks competition every year in Monaco. It’s incredible what they come up with. Once there was one that blew up before going up and we all got blown accross the road and all the windows in the harbour smashed. Nobody hurt and that was the show that won! Crazy. It was like hot wind that suddenly blew so hard it pushed your whole body… A dangerous but fun experience. Because of my cats I have started to dislike it when kids set them off around houses. It scares my cats. Gigi was growling and crawled into the inside of the couch for hours at new years. I never saw her do such a thing except then. Poor sweetie was so frightened and there was nothing I could do that would help her it seemed. She was out of the couch next morning but I sat on the floor by the couch with her until the wee hours. Fireworks are the birth of many things including kinds of so called magic and alchemy and aren’t they the first product of gun powder – before there were guns? The mere fact it’s called gun powder says something doesn’t it.
What interesting things you are into 🙂
I love the metaphor analogy that a firework is designed to do something and that’s what it does almost like a cat is designed and acts on instinct and does what he or she is supposed to do. It’s interesting to look at things that way.
I graduated with my BA in Education in 1995 and every paper I typed throughout my college experience to that date was done with a manual typewriter, usually my Uncle Fred’s Remington Standard which we think was manufactured about 1913. The only exception was if the class required the work to be done on a computer. Today that’s every class and it’s all on the Internet on Blackboard. But I always preferred the immediacy, the hard reality of typing on a real typewriter instead of using a word processor. I’d buy typewriters and clean them up and fix them. Baraboo Office Supply sold me ribbons for them. I’d bring it in and they’d give me one that would work. The only one I couldn’t get ribbons for was my Oliver. That company went out of business completely in like 1922, so that may be why. The hammers are up above the cylinder with that one– very different design. The keyboard doesn’t follow the QWERTY touch system completely.
I recently read a book and the pandemic was thought to be spread thru animals. Tainted beef and milk. Then dogs ended up sick. The government ordered livestock killed then ordered domestic pets killed in case they were spreading the disease. Another book had the cat as a carrier of a pandemic flu. The animals wouldn’t die. They’d be sacrificed out of fear. Same as always.
Self-centered and self-absorbed is putting it mildly. Yes, everything that happens in the universe is all about you and your cats.
You are a very uncouth, rude and ill-educated person, aren’t you Woody? You can’t even say something about the poor people who are injured or killed. You have to use this page to attack decent people. You are a sickening impolite and obsessed paranoic. People who love cats don’t think the universe revolves around cats and ourselves, as you say. We just love cats and often all animals and we care. Stay away. You’re are disliked, indeed hated.
What I can’t understand is why someone who hates cats and cat lovers so much comes to read a cat site?
Woody let me spell it out for you
POC is about CATS for CAT LOVERS to enjoy meeting other CAT LOVERS.
For God’s sake get a life you are repetitive and boring and only make yourself look insane.
As far as I can detect, Woody visits PoC and spreads his manure here because he is does not like a website promoting cat welfare and celebrating the cat. He sees PoC as dangerous because we write good sense. Woody wants all the stray and feral cats of America slaughtered – all 80 million of them. Our goals are the opposite to his. He hates that and wants to try and undermine us. Guess what 😉 He can’t and won’t because he is wrong.
If this does turn out to be an American who did this I just can’t understand Americans wanting to bomb their own country. It shouldn’t be that hard to comprehend since we go in and shoot up schools and day cares and everything else. I can tell you why we’re in such a financial mess. The U.S. has either loaned out money or provided military assistance to everyone in the world. Yet they refuse to help their own people. Children are starving, a quarter of the population is mentally ill and soldiers are coming back here and becoming homeless. Its too late to fix things. Our next generation is either mentally ill or born with a condition that will hinder employment or raised with values that will turn them into criminals. If I didn’t stay focused on animals I’d go insane.
Sometimes I think Monty is the only thing keeping me in this world. He very possibly is. Because his life is better with me here. As evil as I am I somehow make the life of a small black cat better. It’s not enough to get me into heaven, but it’s enough to grant me life through another day, even though I know I don’t deserve it or him.
Ruth if anyone goes to Heaven YOU will, you keep your Faith through all the bad things that happen and that is a very hard thing to do.
But I don’t keep my faith. I let go all the time. Faith is two parts: repent and believe the Gospel. I get the first part but the second can be hard. But there is no Christian ever who didn’t let go sometimes. Even John the Baptist in prison sent word to Jesus asking if He was the one or should we look for another? Only Christ hung on– hung on the cross for us, hung onto us and would not let go. I think I am in my faith where Martin Luther was as a monk when he was constantly punishing himself trying to earn heaven. Then he read that we don’t earn it, it’s a gift.
We are supposed to b happy, even though we don’t deserve it. I look at Monty and see that his natural state is happiness. This was the natural state of all the world before humans rebelled against God and trashed it. Watching Monty is a glimpse into how God wants me to be– happy in each moment, enjoying present blessings and leaving the future in His hands. If I don’t end up in hell it will be in large part because of Monty, because he teaches me so much. My little cat who has trouble figuring out he has to climb down a tree butt first is so much wiser than me in so many ways.
This is what some people just can not understand, the innocent happiness of cats. Cats live for the day and enjoy every moment, not thinking of the past or worrying about the future, just be-ing in that moment.
We need to learn lessons from our cats, they are a very important part of our understanding of life, I think we can become far better people because of our cats!
When life gets too mixed up and upsetting this is what I do. I don’t let the baggage of the past clutter my mind and neither do I worry about the future.
Ruth don’t make me drive up there. You’re one of the dearest friends I ever had and Monty is lucky to have you for a mom.
These bombs must make you despair about the human race coming on top of the financial mess and all the other injustices. The UK is possibly in a worse position.
Cats keep us sane 😉 I can look at Charlie on my bed and stroke him and be with him and I feel much better. There is sanity in a relationship with a cat but I don’t see the human race being that sane.
Ruth this is what I don’t understand about Christianity,why do you say you are evil?Why go on your knees begging forgiveness when you’ve done nothing wrong?How can good people who do their best be evil?Yes some people of this world are evil but I don’t believe we all are.
Sorry to those who think we must talk ONLY about cats,this is the only way I can get to contact Ruth Monty’s mom and what she has to say will hopefully be interesting and helpful to all of us who have open minds.
USA is similar to the UK in many ways. We are giving away billions we can’t afford. UK is broke. And a few British citizens (a small minority of Pakistani immigrants) are intent on killing as many people as possible and they hate England.
Some of these Pakistanis rape, as a gang, vulnerable young white girls they treat as trash. There have been several high profile cases recently.
I am not being racist. I am simply stating fact.
USA politicians are not doing a good job. They protect their own interests. All the Republicans are rich I guess and want to maintain the status quo including automatic military rifles made available to John Doe.
I get what Michael was trying to say about the cats in the garden, I think. It’s like on 9/11/01. I had to teach music that day and I was so glad to go to the four year old kindergarten room. Usually I preferred the eighth graders to the primary grades (sorry, teachers do have favorites) but that day I wanted to be with the little kids because they didn’t know what had happened. Eventually, I’m sure they had to find out. But the day of, at one in the afternoon, they didn’t know about it at all. It was like in the classroom with them it hadn’t happened. Even though, of course, it had.
Today sitting outside with Monty on the back deck, with him rolling around in the sunshine and grooming himself and just generally happy of two things: to be out in the sunshine and to be with me. He doesn’t know about bombs in Boston. He just knows his belly is full, his black fur is being warmed by the sun, and his favorite person is home early today. I sit and feel depressed about the bombing and on a selfish note kind of worry about the fact that I’m hardly getting any hours right now as a physical therapist assistant– but Monty has no such concerns. He’s having the best day ever. Now he’s doing the in and out thing. He’s in now, but I expect him any minute to want out and then I’ll go out again with him and enjoy the sunshine and try not to think about far away violence. Here he is, peering out the screen door. If I open it he’ll go out and we’ll sit in the sun some more. If I choose instead to do some work inside he’ll follow me and “help” me.
A good friend of mine used to say to me, “Be here now.” Cats are awesomely good at doing that. Yesterday, Monty got his claw stuck in the screen door. I had to rescue him. He was in quite a bit of pain and it wasn’t easy to extricate him. I wondered later if his paw was sore. He seemed to be walking ok. He was really scared and hurting when he couldn’t get it unstuck. But today he doesn’t dwell on it. He just enjoys today. He hasn’t tried to climb up the screen door, but aside from that, he is just living in the moment. I don’t think he relives bad things over and over in his mind the way humans do. He learns from them and moves on. Oh, forget the learns from them part, he’s climbing up the screen door again. I’d better let him out before he gets stuck.
ruth,no disrespect to anybody who has commented on the innocent people who were hurt in boston,but about%90 of all of these comments have been totally unrelated to cats.rember the title of this subject?”bombs affect us all and our CATS”.
A good 90 percent of my post was directly about cats, and what wasn’t was used to draw a comparison between the innocence of small children who didn’t know about and could not comprehend a far off tragedy to the innocence of cats who also live very much in the moment. Monty brought me a similar comfort today as small children brought me in 2001. I don’t see how that is not a cat related topic. Most of my post was about what Monty did today. How more cat related can you get? He is, after all, a cat. I don’t understand your criticism.
Unless you mean my earlier post to Gail. She is a fellow cat lover living through a difficult situation. To sympathize is not uncalled for. I know how she feels to a small degree. A house fire killed three children a block away from me last week and it did hit home more than if it had been in another part of the city. I think that people commented on people hurt in the bombing shows animal lovers do also care about people– a charge often brought against us– that we only care about our cats. The comments here show that is not true. But my post was about cats, primarily, so I fail to understand the criticism.
it wasnt meant to criticise.i will keep the rest of my thoughts to myself about that.maybe if i want to look up about cat talk i should read elsewhere.
Kevin politics affect us all therefore they affect cats, you can’t blame people for being passionate and sometimes one topic does lead to another and this is the best thing about PoC, we respect each others comments and if we are criticised well we just accept think differently apart from our love of cats.
Ruth talking about Monty’s happy day is natural and a bit of light relief.
The main thing is that we keep on trying to make the world a better place for cats and it would be a shame if you went elsewhere as cats desperately need all the help they can get and PoC has the best people giving it.
here is a new idea for poc-“bbc world news for cats”.I’m sure all the cats in this world will be delighted! Now that is criticism!!
and i thought i finally found a website that could get me away from all the bulls#it that goes on in this world.cats and other people who love cats.if i want to hear about politics i watch cnn,if i want to watch and hear what goes on in a cats life,i watch the animal planet.how many cats were killed in the boston marathon?I dont know about your cat,but my cat seems just as fine now as he was a week ago.cats get me away from the harsh reality of life and i return the favor by giving the best care i can.my cat is my world.i have a very hard life myself.im disabled and my cat helps get me through that.sometimes i have to decide who gets to eat,my cat or myself and i would rather starve than let my cat starve. so to anybody who has been offended by my earlier comments,i remind you that i dont like mixing cats with politics because cats are my passion and my only way to releive me of the daily stresses of life…..sorry,i guess i stand alone on that feeling.
I understand what you are saying Kevin but when something as big as the Boston bombs happen I feel compelled to connect that with our lives, and our lives are our cat’s lives. It is connecting what we do to what our cat does and that is important: to realise that the cat lives in our world totally. People forget that.
There are gazillions of webpages on pure cat stuff. But it is repetitive and boring. This page tries to explore more, go beyond the usual.
But we can’t cut ourselves off from the happenings of the world Kevin,imagine then how cat haters would use that “You care about nothing but cats” they would bleat.
We are cat lovers first and foremost but we also care about other stuff and why shouldn’t we discuss it,it can get pretty narrow minded on some sites that the owner monitors and removes any comment that strays a bit.POC allows us to discuss other stuff and if you stand alone then that’s your own choice,not ours.
You have no right to criticise Micheal’s site,your bbc world news for cats is just silly,how disappointing I had thought you more mature than that.
Are all our comments supposed to be about the cute thing our cat just did? You can get that anywhere. PoC goes deeper than that. I still say my post was about cats, but yes, referenced world events. In the context of what Monty taught me about dealing with them. I don’t see why MY comment would lead to a comment stating that readers of PoC don’t talk about their cats enough.
My Facebook page is full of every cute thing Monty does. My friends’ children enjoy following his adventures. But PoC isn’t for children– this to me is the adult world where if we all really could get together in a Paris cafe as Michael once suggested the conversion would focus on our cats, yes, but it would go well beyond that. Like Michael, I wish we could all really do that. One of these days I will get out to see Elisa, Furby, Sealy and all the gang.
I’m sorry Gail – I’ll repeat the same thing again:
“Dear all I apologize for going nuts on this page. It looks like I wrote a book’s worth of ranting comments and I shouldn’t have. It makes me look stupid and possibly rude and thoughtless depending on who reads it.”
You were reading it Gail. Peace is more important than what I think.
I knew I should just shut my mouth.
I agree about Maggie’s funeral being a scandal. I also think the dancing in the streets was pretty sad since she did actually die.
It’s intense being in the middle of a situation like that in Boston. I was on my way to a bar in Bali once and about 5mins before I got there a huge explosion went off and killed alot of people including my oldest friend who went to both the same schools as me. I bet it was the same people who did it too. 5mins later and I’d be gone too. It doesn’t matter what anybody says or does in a moment like that. People will say stuff though. I’m sorry I did.
And Ruth, I agree, cats are just as important. Perhaps more since they aren’t as destructive as we are so they deserve a better life than we do. Makes one want to live off the land and all that really because it’s hard not to be a part of bad things even if you are just a humble consumer of only a little bit….
Marc I’ll say it again, the world needs your passion, only young passionate people can change things.
Never ‘shut your mouth’ Too many do that and that’s why these dreadful tragedies keep on happening.
Every senseless death is a tragedy, whether it be a soldier or a young person committing suicide because they feel there is nothing to live for.
The hundreds of unwanted cats killed daily in Shelters is a tragedy to cat lovers.
Keep on trying to make the world a better place Marc! Michael’s education and passion about the welfare of cats worldwide is a good example to follow, he doesn’t let anyone’s comments knock him back in that quest!
PoC needs you Marc 😉 LOL. Cats need people with passion and everything you say chimes with what I think and, indeed, what all decent, thinking people think.
I can’t see any reason to target Marc’s comments, we are all upset about the senseless bombing but that’s no reason to take our sorrow out on other people.
This is cat forum and Marc is a regular visitor and has the right to sound off just as much as anyone else has, politics affect us all and that affects our cats is what Michael is saying.
As for Margaret Thatcher, no it isn’t right to carry on as some are but her funeral is costing us taxpayers millions of ££££ while she has left millions of ££££ which could pay for it. People here are homeless and starving, queuing up at food banks, the government are taking benefits from disabled people, from children, from pensioners, because they say they can’t afford it. Thatcher caused mass unemployment here in the North, took mens livelihoods, yet she is being made saintful by some.
There is no reason for cats in a cat friendly place not to have their freedom, to go out and enjoy being a cat, they don’t cause bombings, it’s humans do that yet cats suffer the consequences too and as this is a cat forum that is important to us.
Before I go, please note – there was a 3rd bomb incident at the John F. Kennedy Library, which is only a couple miles away but is very important and receives thousands of visitors during the Boston Marathon. The latest update was that there was a fire, but there was also a bomb that was sniffed out by the dogs and subsequently detonated by the bomb squad in a safe manner. It’s still up in the air if this is related to the marathon bombs, but authorities are treating it as such.
Prayers to you all regarding the London Marathon. Hopefully, your experience will be a positive one and if anyone tries the same thing there, they are caught and prosecuted accordingly.
Yeh, I briefly heard about the third bomb that was detected before it exploded. At this stage we don’t even know if the bombs were planted by the usual suspects (Al-Qaeda – God, I hate them) or some far right fringe movement in America. The concept of making a statement by killing people indiscriminately with bombs is wearing people down. It is affecting our minds. It must be stopped.
I’ll report back on the London marathon. Security here is massively ramped up for that event.
Thank you for understanding. This has reduced me to bl**dy tears, even though I’m here all by myself.
I was mad watching the news about the way some people are treating the funeral of Margaret Thatcher. Whatever political views people have, why not practice decorum on this somber occasion? Hoards of people picketing is totally inappropriate.
I live just outside of Boston, but I work here and play here, which is what I would’ve been doing yesterday – dining out in celebration with friends after the marathon. I know a few runners, some of which were on videos seen around the world. I haven’t spoken to those people yet because I cannot get in touch with them. The waiting is the hardest part. I pray for them all. The gore is beyond belief – body parts everywhere. It’s just sick how much we, as a species, has devolved. No wonder alien life has decided to stay in space! Who’d want to communicate with this bunch of self-destructive morons?
I’ll tell you that I am as wound up and as pissed off as you are, almost. It sort of pushes us over the edge.
as i said to gail (in a different way) Is this website about cats?I feel sorry for the people who were injured,but I cant even follow most of these posts..they are way off of the subject of CATS.
So sorry to hear about your friends, Gail. It’s always worse when these things happen in a place familiar to you. It’s not like it’s not bad if there are tragedies in other places in the world. It doesn’t matter where humans are suffering. But when it’s practically on your front door step it really brings it home.
Just to give you people a little insight into today… My train stop is at the marathon finish line. The station is still closed, as is the street for approximately a one-mile area in all directions.
For me to get to the office this morning, I had to get off the train one stop early, which is about 3 large city blocks away. I could not walk down Boylston Street since the entire street is closed (that’s the marathon route). I had to walk down Newbury Street (the Rodeo Drive of Boston with all its fancy shops, hotels and restaurants). There are police and National Guard EVERYWHERE with uzis and I had to get “permission” just to walk down the street behind the bombing to try to get to my office. I was watched closely every single step of the way.
My office building is deserted, as is most of this part of the city. It’s eerily quiet – not even car noises, with the exception of the occasional siren from police or ambulance or the overhead sound of choppers in the air – be it news or Homeland Security.
My phone here has rung once and no one is in – totally the opposite since this is considered the “spring market” in real estate – one of the busiest times of the year. Even Comcast couldn’t get here to install our new Internet line because they were refused admission to drive down the street, even the back way!
Sorry if I sound unhinged, but unless you’ve got experience or have lived this, close-up, all the ranting and raving about politics will do nothing to enhance this discussion. This is very real to me and to those of us who were here or work here. Our office did a check on all of our agents since some of them are runners too. Thankfully, everyone checked in and they are all OK.
And no, Michael, just because we were bombed doesn’t mean all the cats should be let outdoors to “smell or do cat things” in this world for however long it is. That’s just stupid. This is a metropolitan city – cats outdoors would surely get killed faster than any bomb will take them out. Seriously.
I understand what you are saying completely. Your comment is very powerful and brings home the impact of these bl**dy bombs. Thanks again for sharing. I had forgotten or was unaware that you lived in Boston. My suggestion that cats are in a “cat world” in the garden is only applicable, as I said, if it is safe to let them go there. I think I made that point clear.
I am glad you are safe. As I also said, we are affected here in London. Almost immediately after the news came through the police sirens sounded and a road was closed near where I live. There was some sort of potential terrorist threat. I don’t know for sure. It affected me. The London marathon will go ahead but how many spectators will attend? Margaret Thatcher’s funeral is also under threat. That, however, might not bother some people.
I never said this, Gail. You are speed reading. I am very careful in what I say. I am aware of different opinions and sentiments. Comments can and should be passionate because they are personal.
I didn’t say cats should go outdoors. I said cats in a garden (if it is safe – e.g. fenced or walled) is good.
I was paraphrasing and yes, I did speed-read through this so for that, I apologize. Emotions are running very high today. I think I just may call it a day and go home. I’m beginning to lose it. Good day folks.
Look, you are right on top of it. That is going to affect anyone particularly under the current situation of financial problems and stresses in the West. I always appreciate and respect what you say.
WOW!!! I’m normally a frequent writer on POC(A WEBSITE ABOUT CATS!?) but some of these comments are completely off the subject of cats!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I work just behind where the explosions happened. I had the day off, so I was home when this horrific incident happened, but I saw it on TV. Normally, I would’ve been in that very area in that time frame getting lunch.
Marc, you may be passionate about what concerns you, but to spout off about political CRAP over an incident that killed 3 people, including an 8-year old, and severely injured more than 144 at last count, just p*sses me off! Enough already! Go to some other forum to spout off your political garbage!
Michael, I am sorely disappointed in you and to the others here for going off the subject and resorting to talk about politics and truly getting off the subject at hand. I normally am pretty passive to people’s right to express themselves; however, REMEMBER WHAT THIS POST IS ABOUT…PEOPLE GOT KILLED AND YES, CATS WERE AFFECTED! Take your other posits and write them elsewhere, please!
Gail, I understand what you are saying but…this is about politics. Everything is about bl**dy politics, big business, ideology, debt and finance. These are the things that affect us and our cats. There is no point just saying that bombs affect cats! I have to try and work out what is going that causes it, otherwise the post is a meaningless description of the obvious.
I understand that you are wound up and stressed. This is totally normal and to be expected. However, I think you’re wrong in your assessment.
I am very pleased that you are OK.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/apr/16/boston-marathon-explosions-notes-reactions
If people jump to blame Muslims it is because the assessment for the public is based on experience and we can’t assess on any other basis. That said this appears to be home grown which does not necessarily mean that it is not a Muslim. I have nothing against Muslims. I dislike terrorists who support their terrorism by quoting the Koran.
Dear all I apologize for going nuts on this page. It looks like I wrote a book’s worth of ranting comments and I shouldn’t have. It makes me look stupid and possibly rude and thoughtless depending on who reads it.
Nothing to apologise about. You don’t look stupid or rude. Don’t worry. I have not yet read it all but I know it is good and true.
You don’t look stupid or rude. Don’t worry. I have not yet read it all but I know it is good and true.
Thanks Michael – I lost it a bit – I will stick to worrying about animals, there’s enough to do there already. I don’t like the bombings and I feel very sad for the animals and people affected.
Marc there is no reason we can’t worry about cats and about people too. It makes me very angry if someone says ‘Why do you worry about cats, people are more important’
What you can’t get through to them is that some of us can and do care about more than one thing.
Cats suffer just as much as people do and their suffering is mostly caused by people and that is very wrong!
It’s just too terrible beyond words.
I worry about my children growing up in this planet the way things are and I wouldn’t be without them but things are getting worse and I hope they will be able to live their lives safely in peace.
Cats are innocent and live their lives without war,no cats are evil but there are evil humans so we can’t do the same
I wouldn’t like to be born now. And don’t know how young parents decide to bring children into the world.
A lot of parents have kids because they want them not because they will give life and a good life.
I totally agree. I would feel like it’s a little unfair now to have children both for the child and for the planet which needs less people, not more. I wouldn’t have necessarily said this 30 years ago but now it is without question. We always needed less humans to be honest but with the whole collapse of our short sighted corrupted empire it’s become impossible. The fact that you can buy a printer for less than the price of the ink it takes means our big producers of crap have become so desperate they have to make it so we get hooked into stuff with it being initially cheap. In the old days you would pay money for things that lasted. Now you can walk around the block and pick up a printer from the trash. It should be illegal. All the successful people we are supposed to look up to deserve to rot in hell for promoting this stupid pointless system of borrowed time and money. I would hate the west too. I hate both sides. It’s all a total nonsense. What I truly hate the very most though is corporate greed and ‘outsourcing’ to cheaper countries and cheaper quality and worse standards. I think that is worse than all the bombs put together. I would love to see a big company like nestle die in a puff of smoke along with all the assh*l*s who run it.
There is nothing worse than greed. It is the cause of all these problems and bombs. The ones who I look at first are the ones who run the developed world. With all that knowledge and power they managed to screw everyone and get everyone else to hate them in the process.
I disagree with the principle that small growth is failure and that only huge growth is success. When I hear poeple complaining that things are not growing at the desired rate I think it looks stupid. There are physical limits. Success only proved in the long term. We have failed. Spending and using what doesn’t even exist yet. Why does it have to be so easy to buy a car. IT shouldn’t be. All those greedy lenders deserve to rot too.
It’s a total nightmare and it’s very hard to think about actually.
Sorry for rambling in random directions nonsensically – I think thats what happens to a persons brain these days.
We are all going to have to pay for security and police and military controlled states in not long from now. We are the poor ***h*l*s who are going to have to pay for it and it’s going to mean we are paying for total intrusion and lack of privacy and freedom because apparently the only thing we can do about it is fight back rather than prevent it somehow. Not sure what I mean. Europe had it’s fair share of terrorism and we learnt – mostly – to not over antagonaize and bring it upon us after we realised how horrible it is. In the US the government has ‘rights’ that totally abuse people’s freedom because of all of this. I don’t think there is answer but if there is it involves what we are doing in other people’s countries not ours. Furthermore, I don’t trust the people who run our countries (ok maybe the swiss are ok) to do a good job of at least trying not to antagonize these bombing assh*les. It’s bombs for bombs in the end though really. They finally got some. I can’t wait until the US can get it’s own oil from it’s own land. They just get it elsewhere cuz it’s cheaper but look where that’s gone. I don’t think much of england in all this either. It’s a good thing france took care of Mali that’s for sure – leaving all the others countries off the hook in terms of involvment with that even though they all support it. I don’t trust the people in power to do the right thing. My only hope is to bugger off to the countryside and try to get to the end of my life without having any children.
I think Israel is a massive part of the problem – and the reason why the US is so deep in it’s own poop with this whole thing.
There is a lot of cr*p doing down that we never know about (Wikileaks comes to mind) and politicians in combination with big business are messing up the planet. It is time for a revolution.
Im sorry I am just annoyed with the people who built our capitalist empire’s for being so incredibly short sighted. I am not saying they can’t make mistakes but there are so many ridiculous things like spending money you don’t have – the whole property thing in the US which sparked this new depression. It’s all so darn greedy it makes me sick.
You’re as pissed off as me with the mess. You’re too young, in one way, to be that pissed off 😉 You’ll have to try and put it all out of your mind if you can.
yes you are right I don’t help anyone complaining and it just makes me feel bad and perhaps I am rude to others. I have never really been all that politically motivated – you are right to tell me to keep it out of my mind. Actually I do a fine job of it its just when it comes to cats and petfood and the corporations we have to see and deal with on a daily basis where I pay attention and where I get the most sad. I hate that cats are treated not even like 2nd class citizens and that companies think it’s ok for them to be treated as such with the food standards and medical standards they get. I hate the made in china pet foods that are sold by western companies. Thats where I get worked up because it involves me directly. I am more concerned what my cats consume than what I consume in a way. This is where alot of my dislike for big companies comes from. I personally believe that our western society with its structure is far more corrupt than the so called corrupt countries. It just gets done sort of above the table using funny words and catches. Like the whole human rights abuses in other countries. It’s a sort of legal way for our companies to do bad things in other countries thereby forcing the competition into doing the same. The fact the lobby groups even exist is terrible. What about the whole US GM food thing and the fact it doesn’t legally have to appear on the labels. That is corruption in the highest degree because it involves life and death. Yet totally legal because obviously the money goes to keeping it that way. Its painfully clear the government should change the law so in the US you can see if you are eating proven unhealthy food so WHY DONT THEY DO IT – because its a corrupted structure that allows the profit makers bigger profits and it employs a short term attitude of “well when people die fo bone marrow cancer they probably won’t be able to pin it on us – and we don’t care if they die or suffer as long as we are making profits”.
Sorry – but GM foods are illegal all over europe and in the US it doesn’t even have to say on the packaging that GM foods are included in the ingredients. Why oh why oh why. What is that? It’s blatant corrupted immoral capitalist short sighted greed. I use this example alot because it’s perfect because it involves humans and a country doing it to it’s own people let alone what they do in other countries. It MUST be made ILLEGAL to not put it on the packaging. IT’s common sense. So much for the land of freedom and choice. To me that is exactly the opposite. Not free and no choice.
I harp on that one alot.
There are millions of examples of this so called legal structure wantonly destroying everything for money. And the guys at the top get paid millions while most the others get minimum wage in whichever country it goes on in. Why is it that some people need to make so much money.
The swiss just voted on this. 84% of people said it should be controlled so that high lever employees can’t make stupid money. With one person’s salary you could save an entire city of people from starving somewhere else. THAT is what is wrong with this stupid cultural hole we live in. Why can’t the lottery be divided in to better odds for more people.. Why does the pinnacle of this stupid culture we live in have to be so steep and so far up into the sky that nothing makes sense anymore. Why can’t the managment of whatever stupid copmapny it is make half a million less and share the difference with their employees. Everybody has had enough. 84% of switzerland has had enough. Greed greed greed.
I’m ranting and not following your advice. Everything that happens in this world is a consequence of what happened before it. It can all be explained. Greed is a killer. It’s worse than all the bombs.
‘My only hope is to bugger off to the countryside and try to get to the end of my life without having any children’
Marc it’s sad that good decent young people like you have to feel this way.
But I’m glad I have no children because I’d have brought them up to be caring and kind like you are and what for? So that bad people could ruin their innocent lives!
Innocent people are suffer through no fault of their own and it’s all so very wrong!
I agree – even thinking about it and getting angry makes me feel less innocent. I should just shut up. I hate our people first, then their people. They are all horrible.
Don’t ever shut up Marc, your passion and caring are very important to the world.
If there were more people like you this world could be saved.
Thank you Ruth. I appreciate it really alot. I love my friends on PoC – they are the best. I don’t think it’s immature to have opinions and strong views and ideas but I get told it is if I say something at the dinner table.
Well I stopped going to the stupid ‘dinner table’ now and I like to stay home with my cats and talk to you here on PoC. I think Michael is a massive breath or real fresh air – who has made a site where he politely says what he thinks no matter what and without trying to be anything other than truthful. I got tired of being told I am being unrealistic complaining about stuff. I got an A 1 education and it has led me to this place now where I want nothing to do with the mainstream idea of success even though I am all equipped and trained to go out and make a killing – pun totally intended – and all I want to do is spend little and hurt nothing and basically try to die leaving as small a mark as possible that I was even here.
I have ranted and filled this page to the brim and I’m sorry. I am failing in my own wish to be small.
‘I don’t think it’s immature to have opinions and strong views and ideas but I get told it is if I say something at the dinner table’
You are right Marc, I’d say it’s mature NOT immature to have strong opinions and views and ideas, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise, speak out and be proud of yourself!
This is what I love about PoC, Michael has strong opinions and isn’t afraid to say so, he also allows us to have ours too even if he doesn’t always agree, he respects our views.
It would be childish to think everyone can agree and think the same, because we can’t.
I admire men with strong and passionate views, not ‘yes men’ who are weak and don’t believe in themselves so let others sway them.
Keep on posting Marc, I don’t think I’m the only one who likes and respects what you say.
If anyone doesn’t like what you say then tough.
The main thing is we all love cats and fight for their welfare and have become PoC family because of that.
Yes – I want to worry about the cats actually. There’s not enough people to worry about the animals so rather than moaning about people hurting people I will stick to standing up for the animals if I am going to moan. Thank you Ruth – I always agree with you and I appreciate that 🙂
It’s the same a**ho*es who sell us pet food made in china because over there they can abuse animal and human rights. They deserve to suffer for doing that. Not us. Bomb the corporations not the slave consumers. Soon the Chinese will start hating us because they work 60 hours weeks for almost nothing because our stupid people in power think it’s acceptable if its on other lands. I hate everyone – it’s hard not to. Sinc e the beginning of time the US has had enough oil on its own lands. Now they are going to get all self sufficent because they can while those of us who can’t will still have to rely on the shit they caused where we get ours.
I think I just take everythng I said back- I apologize. I should not involve myself in this. That’s why I love my cats. They don’t talk politics to me.
Absolutely. Everything costs more. Everything is more difficult to do. Our lives are spoiled. Just this morning, where I live, the police are everywhere. A road was blocked so I couldn’t go to a club. Small stuff but the ramifications are far and wide.
In London, the marathon here this weekend will be severely affected, I suspect. I just find bombings like this messes up our lives one way and another.
It is a tragic waste of life and my thoughts too are with the families of the people killed and with the people injured.
It’s always the innocent who suffer, most of us don’t want bombs or fighting for power, we just want to live our lives peacefully, as do our cats.
They know nothing about all this going on, but our world is their world and it’s bound to affect them.
I feel very grateful we have peace in our little corner of the world today, Walter is snoozing, Jozef has found a new source of mice so he is out hunting, they are doing what cats like to do and I’m very happy that they can.
thank you michael,boston is only about a 3 hour drive from long island (which is where i live) and i am also effected by it in a negative way.it’s just another example how humans are the most senseless killers on earth.
As you say it is so senseless and as far as I am concerned a form of madness. Bombing like this has almost become a way of life throughout the world but mainly in the West. It happens so much. Can you remember the time when it never happened? When the idea didn’t even enter anyone’s mind.
Bombing is a substitute for an all out war.