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doodlebears Celebration AmbassadorJul 14, 2005

I'm in shock at the moment as we have just heard on British TV that one of the suicide bombers that killed so many in London last week lived in Aylesbury the small town in which I live. I feel sick to the stomach to think that we have been sharing our hometown with such a cruel, wicked creature. I just pray that he was the only one in our area. We have had police helicopters flying around all day and the house on the street where he was living is cordoned off for forensic detailing. What a cruel world!

Jane

Shelli Retired Help Advisor, Banner SponsorJul 14, 2005

Wow.  That really must be unsettling, on top of all the unsettling events of the last week (which no one ever wants to deal with in the first place.)  I'm sorry for you, Jane, and your neighbors.  Psychologically, I think there's inevitably going to be some kind of, "How could we NOT have known?!?" mentality that takes place within the hearts and minds of the survivors left behind in situations like this.  I've heard about it in cases where someone lived next door to a serial killer, or a child molester.  I've seen spouses talk about it when that evil monster was his/her own life partner.

I hope that, like those folk, you do realize on the deepest of levels that neither you nor your fellow townfolk could possibly have known, nor could you have controlled or changed, either this bad guy's intentions, or the outcome of his actions.

I hope you and your townsfolk, and the rest of London and the UK, can find some peace with this sometime relatively soon.  I still feel the shock of 9/11 all these years later, and I was on the opposite coast when it took place.   There is a certain innocence lost that just doesn't return.  I'm sorry for you that it has to hit you, and your family, especially close to home.

Big hugs,

SueAnn Help Advisor, Banner SponsorJul 14, 2005

Oh goodness, Jane . . . I echo Shelli's observations . . . it must be a really disgusting shock to know that one of the terrorists lived in your town.  So sorry about all the heartache this latest misdeed has caused the UK.  It looks as though your police are working very hard and having a lot of success in bringing those responsible to justice.  The after effects of such a tremendous horror don't go away very fast . . . just know that sane people all over the world support and feel for the British people!

Winney Jul 14, 2005

Horrors Jane..of the worse kind. Our world is full of it, always has been. All we can do is be careful, speak out, stand up and be counted for supporting good things for our country.

This stuff is not going to go away....in my younger days I saw plenty in South West L.A. California 's racial Watts riot as we lived on the very edge of it...streets blockaded  by national guard at 6PM every night, no one could walk on the streets.The national guard base camp was at our local Jr. high school.

There were car loads of black and whites alike riding the freeways or streets with shotguns, malitof  ( s?) cocktails just throwing them out at random at passer bys or ganging up on the opposition in other cars, setting houses on fire. Several houses burned down in our area and our little grocery store a half block away was all shot up.
You could hear close gun fire going off here and there at random..at who's next  ?...could be you .

Everyone was afraid of everyone... Many things never made it in the newspapers...there were too many to report.
Racial riots are the most out of controlled events I have witnessed in this world but now we have an  unusual  amount of planned and controlled  murderous events which seem to take us by surprise and leave us at an disadvantage. . We keep setting new control measures.....Winney

millie Jul 14, 2005

Jane,

It is a wicked world we live in.  But not all are so.  We must never stop looking for the good out there.  It's there, it just seems to get harder to find every day.  I guess maybe I have lived a sheltered life in sort.  I have witnessed very little violence in my lifetime.  The only incident that comes to mind is when I lived in Houston in the late 70's.  That big city was just too much for this country girl, I was always so scared when I lived there.  My husband bought me a dog for my birthday.  I picked out a St. Bernard.  I said I wanted a dog big enough to get people's attention.  He did just that a couple of times.  I sure was glad to have him with me.

bearsbybeesley Jul 14, 2005

Oh my goodness Jane. So very upsetting I am sure. Just say your prayers for your good ortune in your safety and prayers for those not so fortunate. I would feel the very same way as you do if I were in your shoes.

Hugs Louise

Eileen Jul 14, 2005

Jane, I'm so sorry. What a shock.

I think the best any of us can do is keep spreading the good, and the bad guys will never win. There have always been villains, and always will be. You never know for sure how to spot them.

These are very difficult times. I walked all around Ground Zero when we visited New York 2 years ago. It was hard to believe that all that was gone, or to understand why it happened.

Still, I've been hearing since I was a child that the Middle East was a powder keg, and that if we didn't do something we were in for big trouble. I think we're now doing something important over there, and doing it well.
I just keep praying for our troops and our leaders

Eileen

Delartful Bears Jul 15, 2005

Oh I am so sorry - that is such terrible news. 

Just know that everyone is thinking of you at this terrible time.

Danni

Bumpkin Bears Jul 15, 2005

Hi Jane, I can understand your shock, I have a friend that lives very near to Aylesbury and my family live in St Albans so close to Luton where that car had been found...  It must be so very unsettling for you.   

Bear Hugs
Catherine

Dilu Jul 15, 2005

OK honey, here's the deal-
" All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing."

Know who said that?  Edmund Burke.  A very wise Brit.   It was as true then as it is now. 

I lived next door to Ted Bundy for a  while, in Salt Lake City.  When the truth about him came out I felt sick.  So many beautiful girls-dead-because of his evil.  I felt guilty believing I should have known, I could have done something.  But I didn't, and couldn't.

I believe, what Mr. Burke was trying to warn us about is this:

Evil doesn't thrive in a vacuum.  We good people, who do not want to falsely accuse anyone of anything, who doubt our intuition, who feel that to say anything is politically incorrect, in a sense set up the perfect environment for that evilness to do its worst.

You can be sure that someone, some good soul, in your town, second guessed himself when he saw or heard something that gave him pause and made him question,  And that poor guy is now trying to figure out how to live with his 'guilt'

I think that is so very sad.  We can't change the facts, I can't do anything about the girls Bundy killed, I was a girl myself-19-20.

In this case evil takes the very tenentes of our Judeo/Christian western culture and has used these tenentes to circumvent our protective devises, ( intuition, gut feelings, speaking out etc) and uses them against us.

There is a certain faction of society that promulgates Political Correctness and this also is being used against our society.

I do know how you feel.  It is a very sick feeling.  30 years later I still feel ill, and still question if there was something I should have, could have seen or done.  When the subject comes up, like today, tears still come.

But

We can "should have" and "could have"  ourselves till we are crazy and nothing will change.

I resolved, because of living next door to my particular monster, to never be complacent, always listen to my intuition, and if the situation occurs again to NOT remain silent.  There are ways to deal with these situations discreetly, so that if we are wrong no harm is done

I also realized that there are clues that come to us that are subconscious but that we ignore them because it "can;t really be" 

Everyone liked Bundy, he was friendly, outgoing, pleasant.  For me the unconscious clue was that when I was introduced to him the first time, and he put his hand out to shake I put my hands behind my back.  Rude?  You betcha.  Did I know why?  No.  Because I didn't sit down and analyze why I felt that way.

Since then, when meeting other evil people, I recognize this protective mechanism in me- totaly subconscious, I do not want to touch- I do not want a transference of such negative energy.  I didn't figure it out until I was a psych nurse and dealing with evil on a daily basis.  And when dealing with evil on a daily basis it was very important to protect myself, psychologically, spiritually and psychically.

Everyone has their own unconscious protective devices.  We had them as children and loose them growing up.  You know the old adage, "Dogs and little kids know"

Well they do.  We can get the ability to read those signals back-something I truly support-

I think the morality lesson of the day for all of us is to be alert, be vigilant but to remember we are not responsible for others bad actions, only for our own actions, and that we need, all of us, to pay attention to our protective signals.

Bless you, sweetie, the fact that it bothers you indicates the goodness in your heart.  And where goodnesss abides evil cannot.  Who said that?  I dunno :)

But I will pray for your town-there is such a thing as "group guilt"   and I would hate to see your little hometown succumb to that. 

I do believe evil exists.  I do believe that it will not triumph.

Hugs to you, Miss Jane, it will get better.

Diane

SueAnn Help Advisor, Banner SponsorJul 15, 2005

Diane, you are sooooo perceptive . . . but then I guess a psyche nurse would be.  Talking about "group guilt" . . . Dallas still carries it around after John Kennedy was murdered here.  I was young, too, just in my very early 20's and working my first job out of college about 60 miles north of Dallas when the atrocity happened.  I don't know if Dallas will ever recover from that stigma!