This post took a long time to write.

Haidi has a collection of… words from people around the county. The level of just-below-the-surface-and-now-exposed racism that this collection displays is dismaying to say the very least. If these sentiments spread, we accomplish exactly the goal that the terrorists hoped for: fear, segregation, continued anger, unwarranted attacks, and resentment.

We sink to their level.

There is a way, there must be a way, to combat and respond to this attack that is both just and warranted without lowering ourselves to the same tactics used against us. We can be better than that. It is a hard path to find, and it is narrow, but it is there, and it’s the way we need to go.

Am I angry? Sure: if I weren’t angry, there are several things in this post that I would not be saying. Honestly though, I’m angry at the people saying these racist things, not at the people who hijacked the plane. I can’t be angry with them, because I think they should die (not to teach others a lesson, but simply so they won’t kill again), and I can’t mix Justice with Hatred, or it becomes revenge.

Repeating myself: we can’t mix “Doing the Right Thing” with “Hate”.

My japanese co-worker did not bomb Pearl Harbor, my german-descended wife is not responsible for the concentration camps of World War II, and my arab neighbor did not hi-jack those planes.

Think, people. We’re better than this.