Nice France, Horror on the Promenade — The Aftermath
Follow up to, “Nice France — Horror on the Promenade”
I’m reminded of the words by Joseph Conrad…
“The mind of man is capable of anything — because everything is in it, all the past as well as the future”. Taken from — Heart of Darkness.
Prelude:
Why do certain thoughts or words come into your conscience at any particular time? One has to wonder — is the mind and the brain one in the same thing? It seems that these two words “brain” and “mind” are used interchangeably. Me — I think not.
The brain is a biochemical organ made up of a complex network of billions of nerve cells. Is then the mind a psychic organ attached to one’s soul? Is it not the soul that provides the connectivity passageway to something far greater than one’s physical being?
Perhaps, having been a tad of a technocrat, could one think of the mind as one thread of the human soul that is in essence the Operating System for the brain (our CPU, storage farm and controllers for all human devices and to some degree those mechanically attached too)?
Therefore, would not the mind have a profound influence upon our brain, nervous system, organs, glands and all other body parts (hands, fingers, etc.)? Have we not all heard that the mind is capable of healing our physical ailments?
Horror on the promenade — the aftermath.
Having written a few days ago, Horror on the Promenade, about how silly little things can influence life or death outcomes, and to have witnessed the destruction of human beings and to have heard the frightful sounds of those severely injured, those too in distress and all those who were frightened not knowing what else awaited them, this is my conclusion.
When taking into account this was a premeditated act to insight fear and inflict damage and death upon innocent fellow human beings, including children without discriminating on race, this can only be viewed as a act of war! Why? Because the damage I saw is no different than any scene from any war zone!
I don’t think our minds can truly understand what horror is unless we have experienced it first hand. Perhaps a similar experience would be a tragic train wreck or plane crash to process the carnage. But the difference, for the most part, is those events are not caused by fellow human beings. And, when two entities are at war, what is the willingness of one or the other to inflict the maximum horror as possible to instill fear?
In the end, what I and my wife witnessed and what my feelings are today remind me of an actor who played the part of Colonel Walter Hurtz who said “The horror. The horror of not knowing where the truth stopped and the lies began, of means versus ends, of humanity versus inhumanity, of conformance versus independence, of hypocrisy versus honor. The Horror.” I ask you, “has this now become the norm and we must all live it”?
Is the paradox of these words that in order to defeat an immoral enemy you need more than strong honorable warriors? Do you fight fire with fire? Do you too need to use horror as a weapon to kill without passing judgment? And in the end, is it possible for a moral warrior to rationalize the use of this terrifying weapon — horror?
Will the world unite to understand that we all are in a fight with an enemy that uses religion as a cloak to hide their true mission?
M. Vaughn Duck
19 July 2016
(a personal perspective having reflected on this tragedy/b)
Copyright © 2016
