Living: the ultimate team sport

The desperate evil of impotent men – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com

Posted on June 2, 2013 Updated on June 24, 2014

Leonard Pitts: On machete-wielding terrorists in London: Don’t be complicit – Leonard Pitts Jr. – MiamiHerald.com.

You’ll see that the title of my blog article is different from what is attached.  This blog title reflects what my local Seattle Times newspaper printed as a heading for Leonard Pitts’ article concerning the May 2013 bloody attack on a British soldier.  The Seattle Times title said it all for me.

Now keep in mind, we’re not talking about impotence for which the pharmaceutical industry holds the panacea.  The impotence addressed in this must-read article by Mr. Pitts is that which comes about because of a lack of true power.  Have you ever been bullied?  I have – and it wasn’t until fourteen years ago that I came to the realization that those who bully are those without power; those who feel they must wear trappings that give the illusion of power; such as the trappings of abusive language, character disparagement, and small & large scale violence – destructive acts by anyone’s assessment.

Pulitzer Prize winner, Leonard Pitts, Jr., believes that “terrorism’s threat lies not in its power, but in its effect, its ability to make us appalled, frightened, irrational, and, most of all, convinced that we are next, and nowhere is safe.”  Mr. Pitts provides an example of an acquaintance who, after 9/11, told him she would never enter a skyscraper again – as if each and every tall building in our country would be on the receiving end of an airplane attack.  My god, think of those people who work in these buildings and who, if they maintained the same fear and naive determination as that woman, would throw our economy even further into the toilet because of their refusal to enter their place of employment – a very tall building.

I think the biggest weapon these flaccid terrorists carry in their arsenal is the world’s ability to instantly broadcast – and then repeatedly broadcast – these desperate acts of violence, and our desire to catch such acts on television, You Tube, blog videos and photos – the list of viewing opportunities almost endless.

“We cannot control what such people do.  But we can control our reaction thereto” states Mr. Pitts.  Please readers near and far, let’s not fuel the fire of violence with our cravings to see it played out before us countless times through instant electronic images.  Let us fuel our empathy and strengthen our determination to turn our backs on the sensational by responding in such a way as to not “become the weapon terrorists use against us.”  Let’s not give these weaklings any more power – because as stated in the Miami Herald piece, “the only power they have is the power we give them.”