It is all as meaningless as Friday night's attacks. So much is being said. So little can be done. At least, so little that can make a difference.
What they want ... is and never will be available, and they will never stop fighting for it.
What we want ... tolerance of coexistence, a realization that this is the only world we have and every last person is an individual with individual belief ...is and never will be available, and we will never stop fighting for it.
In either case, the only way that will be with not only attacks, but all-out war that will leave millions on both sides dead. We will never be willing to do that. They will be.
We see this on a small scale in our own politics - the parties are being taken over bu those who insist on ideological purity over working together to get things done that will help us all.
And there is a word to describe this.
In French, it is compromis.In Arabic, it is hall wasat.
T.S. Eliot once said the world would end "not with a bang, but with a whimper." Between the terrorists and the ideologues who want their own way, we will have both, and much too soon for any of us.
