We've Become A Freak Magnet...

     If you've had your national news on, read a newspaper, or are psychically tuned in to the great Pacific Northwest, you've heard about the shootings/act of terrorism here in Seattle yesterday afternoon.  But just in case you're living under a rock, I will recap:

     A lone gunman pushed his way through the security door of the Jewish Federation in downtown Seattle, made an announcement he was a "Muslim American" and angry about what is happening in Lebanon/Israel, and opened fire on workers inside the Federation's offices.  He killed one woman, critically injured 3 other females, and appears to have shot 6 (or seven...there was one woman shot just outside the Starbucks beside the Jewish Federation, so not sure of the actual count).

     I work in a building downtown several blocks away from the Jewish Federation, so I was in no danger (for those of you who might have cared!) and I fortunately am not familiar with any of the victims.  I am also not familiar with the terrorist.

     What I AM becoming more and more familiar with however, is the fact my once quiet city of Seattle has become a FREAK MAGNET and a homicidal hotbed of casualties!!!

     Seattle is not known for murder (until this year, unfortunately!)...we are the Space Needle and World's Fair, Microsoft, Mt. Rainier, the Seahawks Superbowl football team, Paul Allen and Bill Gates, Starbucks Coffee, Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, Jimmy Hendrix, Biogenetics, the home of the "grunge" look, rain, and a "small town" city that has been safe to walk in at night.  We are the original environmentalists, a city named after a native Chief, a higher than average international population of Multiple  Sclerosis, a place where people are courteous and yielding, and a destination for several million tourists each year.  We are not a violent people.

     Perhaps it has been the gross population influx to the area, the increasing traffic jams, the lull in the computer and software industry, or the worry we are due for the "big one" (earthquake) that has caused this recent unrest in my once hip, but sedate city.  Perhaps it is merely a symptom of the generalized worldly unrest or the sickening direction our nation as a whole has been traveling.  I don't know. 

     What I DO know is this:  I want my city back.  I want to feel safe here again.  I want to be able to walk the mountainous trails of the Cascades and not fear a murderer is on the loose (A mother and daughter were recently brutally murdered on the Pilchuck Trail in the north Cascades this past month).  I want the young adult population here to feel safe attending their parties (The post rave Capitol Hill massacre occurred this year, when a young gunman opened fire at a party, killing 6 people and then committing suicide).  I want all the religious fanatics to kiss and make up.  I WANT MY CITY BACK!!!

     But why stop at my lovely city of Seattle?  Maybe I should be dreaming and wanting a bit higher up on the food chain?  Maybe I should be crying out and pleading to get my country back?  Dare I scream from the peak of Mt. Rainier and announce, while I'm at it, I want my WORLD back?

     Frankly, I'd settle for just getting the "human" back in the term HUMAN RACE...