Terrorism

When 9/11 happened, we were stunned by how could a small band of people bring an entire nation to its knees. Not only those attacks killed more than 3,000 Americans but it also ended up costing vast sums of money.  This was the opening move of a different type of war.

As we all know, in retrospection, that these tragedy could have been prevented. The perpetrators had taken training in how to fly commercial jetliners. The cabins of the airplanes were not locked so anyone with bad intentions could have walked in. The effectiveness of security apparatus was not up to the par. The murders had left enough clues that they could have been caught prior to committing their heinous acts.

In the ensuing years, steps have been taken to prevent such tragedies. The airport security has been beefed up, sophisticated databases have created of suspected terrorists, and their movements and conversations are routinely monitored to identify potential plans being hatched. Besides, cockpit doors are now locked preventing hijacking of an airplane.

In response, the terrorist changed their methods. The attacks in San Bernardino and Orlando were surprising because otherwise ordinary people, not on anyone’s terror lists, perpetrated them. Instead of sending men with bad intentions, they just converted local folks to commit crimes.

These tragedies could not have been stopped by tighter law enforcement. There are lots of people being tracked by our fine folks at Homeland Security and local law enforcement agencies. However, it is almost impossible to find needles in haystack, or even worse, as the head of FBI said, identify hay that might become a needle.

Preventing all Muslims from entering our country is such an asinine idea that it is not even worth discussing. Besides being unconstitutional and so very un-American, such a move would not have caught these murderers…they were American citizens, not foreign nationals.

The only thing that can be done to prevent these terrorist acts, or at least their severity, is to make it impossible for civilians to lay their hands on assault rifles. Such a law is long over due, and would have passed if not blocked by our homegrown coconspirators, those fine folks at NRA.

The reverse argument, to let everyone have guns is as stupid as banning all Muslims. One would not be able to separate good guys from bad guys when the shooting starts and there would be a total Western movie style shoot out, resulting in an even larger tragedy.

Now, with the terrorist act in Nice, we are confronted with even more challenging environment in which a radicalized terrorist used his truck as a weapon. What can be done? You cannot ban trucks. Perhaps you can install temporary truck barriers whenever a group of folks are going to gather on streets. However, how strong will the barrier need to be to stop a massive truck at full speed? How feasible would it be to install such barriers every time a group wants to congregate?

I think the only option at this stage is to prevent ordinary folks from becoming radical. This process of radicalization does not seem to require personal contacts, say at places of worship or travel to hotbed countries. If it did, it would be relatively easy to monitor.

Radicalization is done largely through the Internet. As I understand, there are huge numbers of videotapes and websites available on-line for the disenfranchised person to tap into to reinforce his/her budding hatred toward the Western way of life. We have to strangle that channel hard.

I am sure that Homeland Security is doing the best it can but they are probably stymied by our desire for privacy. One of my ex-colleagues, working in the defense industry tells me that Ed Snowden, the traitor, gravely damaged our ability to listen in. We have to give permission to people we trust for keeping us safe, so that they are able to go into the entire Web, the part we see and part that is considered “dark,” and shutdown every source of radicalizing material available on-line.

I am reminded of a science fiction movie, “Invasion of Body Snatchers,” in which the aliens try to conquer earth by secretly converting ordinary citizens into aliens, with no change in outward appearance. This is what is happening now. The only way to make a difference is to deny distribution channels to the “aliens” even if it means invading our privacy.

We cannot go on living like this, in constant fear of our friends and neighbors getting infected and becoming rabid murders.

Mr. Trump's nightmare

I am sitting in the balcony of our daughter’s apartment in Kensington, Brooklyn, watching the world go by. It is Sunday and a threat of rain is in the air.

There is a party for a young Jewish girl in a house in front. A pony is called to give rides to a number of two year olds. The family is all there...old grandpa with his yarmulke, middle-aged people, some youngsters. The birthday girl is frightened of her pony ride and wails.

Next door, children of a Hasidic family are out riding their bikes and so are the neighborhood Bangladeshi kids. The neighborhood is quite alive; the promised rain has not yet materialized.

We go for shopping in a Bangladeshi supermarket. It is filled with Muslims from all different parts of the world. "Inshalla" and "Khuda Hafiz" are the words that we hear. The storekeeper is very polite and helps us navigate through the intricacies of what dates to buy…Saudi Arabian or Kuwaiti.

Then we take a walk on Fort Hamilton Parkway. The neighborhood changes. Now there are Mexicans and Central Americans. We enter an area where one can buy food from Honduras and Mexican tacos. Just like that English gives way to Spanish.

Clusters of Hasidic families, each with number of children all dressed in the same way, are heading toward a Park. The children look cute with their long braided sideburns. They speak Yiddish.  

We come back. It starts raining. We sit in the balcony sipping Japanese Sapporo beer. A Chinese woman in front house comes out briefly to throw garbage. A Bengali man comes out in his lungi and ganji, checking the rain pouring down. The Hasidic kids rush back, throwing their bicycles on the ground. An Indian father runs with his baby in a stroller.

Our daughter’s landlord Abdul comes back home and says hello to us. It is Ramadan and they will not eat until moonrise. The dates my wife has purchased from the Bangladeshi store are meant for them, as that's what they like to eat when they break their daily fast.

This is the America of our dream, where we all live peacefully. It does not matter who you are or what religion you follow. It is a fascinating tapestry of folks like us who have worked hard to escape poverty or persecution. We make this country vibrant and prosperous. There is no "us" and "them".

This is Mr. Trump's nightmare.

An unnatural stage of life

Compared to our genetically similar ancestors we live a long life.

“Chimpanzees and great apes are genetically similar to humans, yet they rarely live for more than 50 years. Although the average human lifespan has doubled in the last 200 years — due largely to decreased infant mortality related to advances in diet, environment and medicine — even without these improvements, people living in high mortality hunter-forager lifestyles still have twice the life expectancy at birth as wild chimpanzees do.”  (Ref. Live Science, Dec. 15, 2009)

This is a real bonus, because as far as nature is concerned, we have done our work as soon as we have given birth to children and brought them up. The “selfish genes” do not need us around once the continuation of their lineage is assured.

Of the pleasures we get in these bonus years, the greatest one, I am told, is to be able to enjoy our grandchildren.   We humans have the unique opportunity to do so. I do not believe too many apes live to see their grandchildren let alone enjoy their early years. For us, it is it is a very common experience.

We are going to find that out. A few days ago, our daughter gave birth to a baby girl and suddenly we are in that next stage of life, the “unnatural” one.

The first part of this stage allows you to re-live the experience when your own children were born. The high level of anticipation when the news is announced is mixed with anxiety, just as it was earlier. This is followed by utter delight when the child comes out looking normal. The fact that a new human being has emerged from almost nothing still feels like a miracle even for a non-believer. The gaze of the child when he/she looks at you for the first time is thrilling even this time around.

Of course, not everything is the same. This time you know that you have the luxury of skimming off the best part of the child rearing experience. While the poor parents bear the brunt of sleepless nights and constant worries as the child progresses through various stages of life, you participate as you wish or as you are needed. You could get away with being the indulgent adult for you grandchild even as the parents take over the responsibility of drawing lines.

There are other ways the experience is not the same. When I was born, my grandfather sent a postcard informing my father of birth. My mother had gone to her parents’ house for delivery while my father had stayed back. When our own children were born, we used telephones to inform all our relatives and I was allowed to be in the delivery room, unlike my father when I was born. When our granddaughter was born, the entire media spectrum was utilized to inform relatives and friends, far and near. Within seconds everyone became aware of the wonderful news and saw what the baby looks like. Videos were taken and Skype was used to bring along the other grandma (in England) participate in the experience.

There are now Apps available for the new parents navigate through the maze of parenting. Anything that the baby or the mother needs can now be instantly ordered for the same day, or next day, delivery.

The baby industry has progressed to the new level from the days when we were raising our children more than three decades ago. The number of options available, say in diapers, makes your mind reel. You end up coming out of the store wondering if the diaper you bought has the right type of “soiled diaper” indicator. In our times the options were few and smell was the only indicator.

The car seat is another story. The modern ones would make an astronaut proud. They are designed to protect the child in every type of car accident, which is good, but their massive and complicated appearance scares the crap out of a new child exploring the world around her. It took us ten minutes to figure out how to unlock the mobile upper portion of the car seat from the fixed lower portion….and I am an engineer.

We would have missed all these experiences if the nature had not allowed us to live beyond our useful period. If the selfish genes had refused to yield, we would be gone by now. 

If that was the case, who would our granddaughter have gone to buy her a candy (or more likely an infant version of iPhone) when the parents would not?

Early to airport

I believe the world is divided into two types of people, those who like to get to an airport early and those who prefer to get there just in time. Let us call these folks ETA (Early to Airport) and JITA (Just in Time to Airport).

I am an extreme case of ETA. As my wife says, we are the people airlines are waiting for before opening their counters. I can be found at the airport two hours before the flight, or may be earlier if it is an international flight. I spend this time reading, having a cup of coffee, or just observing life go by. Not surprisingly, I have not missed a single flight among more than thousand I have taken.

JITAs prefer to get to the airport just in time. In an extreme case, they believe that even an extra minute spent at the airport is time wasted. They are the ones found running to the gate, as it is about to close. Not surprisingly they are quite stressed out and occasionally miss their flights.

I cannot understand why anyone would do that. What exactly would they have done with the time saved by not going to the airport early? Have an extra cup of coffee? Check emails? Couldn’t they have done that at the airport? I understand that if you are on business trip, a meeting can run late, and you need to scramble. However, that is generally not the case why a JITA gets to the airport with barely a minute to spare.

So, in my humble opinion, there is no firm benefit in reaching an airport late, but, if you miss your flight as a consequence, there is a significant downside. You inconvenience not just yourself but also others. Once, an extreme JITA person, a relative of mine, managed to miss not one but two flights to get to our daughter’s wedding. Not only did she miss the wedding, but also created a challenge for us because we were relying on her rental car to provide rides to some of our guests.

Of course, to each his own, you would say. That is a good advice if we are on our own. It is a whole another story if we are not heading to the airport from our home but from someone else’s; one filled with JITAs.

“You mean you want to start for the airport now?” That is how the conversation begins. Others are enrolled in the campaign to stop us from making that grave mistake. “How could you waste that extra 30 minutes at the airport?” The tone is one of a macho man shaming a wimp. Real men don’t get to the airport any earlier than they have to. Everyone has a laugh at our expense.

One cousin of mine, a fellow ETA, was literally scolded by a bunch of other cousins when he wanted to depart for the airport in Mumbai earlier than what they thought would be appropriate. I had to intervene, and allow him go. The next day he thanked me because he encountered heavy traffic on the way, not at all unusual in Mumbai, and the line at the airport was very long. He barely made it to the flight.

That is a bad situation, but it can be worse. If you are driving to the airport you can still depart when you want, even after being harangued by the JITAs. However, if a JITA is going to take you to the airport, things can get very tricky.  Now you are completely dependent on him or her in deciding when to leave.

I experienced that in Quito, when our innkeeper was giving us ride to the airport for a flight to Galapagos. I had read in TripAdvisor that you need to be early at the airport because there are special permits you need to get in order to visit Galapagos and the lines for that are very long. People have missed their flights because of this requirement.

Our innkeeper would not listen to my plea to depart early. He insisted that for domestic flights one does not need to reach any earlier than 90 minutes. That extra 30 minutes I was requesting was an annoyance. He finally relented but was not too happy. Yes, the process to check in passengers for Galapagos was excruciatingly slow and I was thankful that we reached early.

OK, I have made my case.

Fellow ETAs, rejoice, there are people like you around, and, to the JTAs of the world, please cut us some slack. Don’t make us butt of your jokes or torture us. We are not wimps as you make us out to be and there is a rationale behind what we do. And someday, we may be the ones with the last laugh.

Meaning of life

“It does not matter what we expect from life, but rather what life expects from us. We need to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead think of ourselves as those who are being questioned by life---daily and hourly.”

Wow. That is a profound statement and insight. By thinking of our life as a separate entity from ourselves, we suddenly find the tables turned. We are being questioned by life, not the other way around.

These are from a disturbing and insightful little book I just finished reading. “Man’s search for meaning,” by Viktor Frankl is a world wide best seller, having sold more than 12 million copies. Dr. Frankl was in a great position to ask questions about meaning of life, because he was a survivor of Nazi concentration camps.

One cannot imagine a fate worse than being herded in a concentration camp, with death lurking around every corner. Everything is taken away from you, including your name. You just become a number, to be eliminated if some sadistic pig decides that you are not worthy of preserving. Gas chamber is where you go because a bullet is too expensive to be wasted on you.

How does one survive under this condition? As per Dr. Frankl, who not only survived but also helped others do so, showing the person a future goal is an important first step. According to Nietzsche, “He who has a why to live can bear with almost any how.”

“Even if you think you have nothing more to expect from life, life is still expecting something from you. Something in the future, may be it is a child waiting for you or a book that you still need to write.”

Frequently, that is not sufficient. To be able to survive, one needs to change the way one looks at life.

“Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks, which it constantly sets for each individual. Thus it is impossible to define the meaning of life in a general way. Life’s tasks form man’s destiny, which is different and unique for each individual. When a man finds that it is his destiny to suffer, he will accept suffering as his task. His unique opportunity lies in the way in which he bears his unique burden.”

It is unlikely that anyone of us will ever end up in a situation as dire as what Dr. Frankl and his fellow inmates went through. However, thinking this way about life will help prepare us for the inevitable challenges we will face.