Oh, What a Night
It is Thanksgiving Eve here in the states and I, like so many others, have much to be thankful for. Health, family, a career I love, a house that isn’t going into foreclosure, new energy in the country after the elections….I could go on and on.
Tonight is a night that many of us are focusing on preparing a feast for our loved ones. I should be making pie crust and pondering the intricacies of the vegetable dishes I’m preparing.
But I’m not. Tonight I’m glued to Twitter, watching real-time updates of the situation in Mumbai, and alternately cringing in horror at what is going on over there and marveling that I can be so up to date on it through the power of social networking. People on the scene are tweeting, people in other parts of Mumbai are tweeting, people are aggregating news from TVs and other sources and tweeting. It is citizen journalism at its finest, and it is beating out any other media source for real-time news.
What’s happening in Mumbai is shocking and horrible beyond imagining. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who is affected and to all of India.
But in an odd, strange way, the reaction on Twitter tonight gives me hope. Terrorism and evil breeds in hidden, dark places and citizen journalism shines a light on those dark places so that the rats and vermin have to scatter. Physicists say that all matter changes just by being observed. Social networking, at its finest, has the capacity to change matter and more by virtue of the fact that everyone is paying attention now.
Global is now truly local. General is specific. The universal is in the details.
Join with me in sending prayers, or positive thoughts, or good wishes for the people in Mumbai. And let’s all be grateful for what we have on this Thanksgiving Eve, okay?
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
horatio salt
hi charlotte: happy holiday. i agree with you about the power of twitter et al to expose the dark corners. at the same time, i’m thankful that there are people braver than i who are willing to rush fearlessly into those same dark corners and face whatever is there head on.
Charlotte
Hi Horatio, Good to hear from you, and yes I agree, it is much easier to be brave from behind a computer than out on the streets. Now that the attack is finally over, as I read about the blatant violence of the terrorists, I am appalled and shocked all over again. The only hope against such evil is to be able to shine some kind of light where it festers.
RennyBA
I was following the news from India too as my son is in Goa – I’m glad he reported as fine!
We don’t celebrate TG in Norway, but you know I have an American wife so we will have turkey dinner on Sunday.
Wishing you a great end to your week 🙂
Charlotte
Renny, I’m so glad that your son is alright. That must have been stressful, to be worrying about him. I’m also glad the at siege in Mumbai has finally ended. Now the recovery begins.