Saturday, July 26, 2008

Bombs in India


Two summers ago I had the good fortune of visiting India. This is something that everyone should do at least twice in their lifetime, and I hope to make another visit if ever the dollar rebounds and foreign travel becomes feasible for the middle class again.

India comes at you with a lot at once. I found it to be impossible to process everything as it was happening. I had to focus on something and try my best to not be distracted, which was a goal I came far short of meeting.

I mention this because one thing I noticed was that political acts of violence occur far more regularly in India than we hear about in the West. I truly believe that India, the worlds largest democracy, being more populated than all of North, Central and South America combined by over 100,000,000 people might be, in the years to come, the most important ally the United States has in the world. They are neighbors with China, they seem to like us, when something goes wrong with my computer or credit card they always try to help me out, and they are probably the most likely spot where democratic and radical-Islamic principles will clash in a major way. I was digging around many news sources this morning and I did not come across this story that almost 30 people died in an attack this morning involving eight bombs. Something similar occurred yesterday as well.

I was in India on 7/11/06 when trains began exploding in Bombay. I recall heightened security, but also a sense of normalcy. The country kept moving forward and did not find in necessary to destroy Iraq in retaliation. It was then that I realized that this sort of thing occurs far more frequently than I read or hear about.

Its strange, if a similar attack occurred in Tel Aviv (which is by far one of my favorite cities in the world) the story would be all over the airwaves, which is strange, because India has rural communities that are more populated then the entire State of Israel. I should note that I am not suggesting that these situations are not important or tragic when they occur in Israel, or anywhere else for that matter. But if the ideals and institutions of democratic government are going to survive for another hundred years on this planet, we are going to need India. And if we need India we must love India, and I love you India. I love you very much...

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