Striking at the West again?

There were six bomb blasts in London today. At least one involved a bus that appears to be have been driven by someone other than the bus driver. As of now the casualty list is at 160. IRA? Al Qaeda? A new bunch of very angry and very nasty people? No one has claimed credit, but certainly it's a statement re the G-8 summit.

The stock market will likely take another hit today. And a lot of other bad things will occur today, for the world is a dangerous place. Some of us will be in an auto accident or get the news of a fatal illness or die today. Others will be robbed, assaulted, divorced. Hurricane season has begun; many will see their homes damaged; many will be injured; it will be a very scary event.

Life itself can be very scary, but we go on. We can't spend our life trying to avoid all bad things; Mother Nature will eventually win out even if it takes her all of our life to do so. Clearly, we take all reasonable steps to avoid real danger, aware that risk is always with us. Some things we try will not work.

There will be another terrorist attack on the US. Do we stop living because of this? I'm reminded of the poem, "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou. While on the surface it is about the enslavement of blacks, it applies to all of us, no matter our color.

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.