When I sat down at my computer this morning to check e-mail, that’s when I saw the headline about the terror attacks in London. I hurried to the TV to check out the coverage and thought, “Oh no, not again.” I yearn for the days from not all that long ago when the heightened possibility of this type of attack wasn’t the new normal. When you see dazed, injured people coming out of a subway tunnel, it makes many of our everyday problems seem minor and petty by comparison. It may never come to fruition, but I pray for a day when this type of terror is something we read about in history books, not a cause for fear or worry in the present.
It’s days like today when I think about how books such as the ones we write are here for a purpose other than making authors and publishing companies money. The critics may pick on romance, it might not get the respect of other, more “literary” works, but when the real world is full of fear and destruction, I’m hopeful that someone somewhere will pick up one of those books and be transported away from that fear and destruction…if only for a little while. It’s been called escapist fiction, and on days like today, maybe that’s what a lot of people need, an escape from reality.
July 8th, 2005 at 12:05 pm
I know Trish, I agree. I watched the television and my heart went out to everybody affected by the bombings.
And absolutely there’s room for escapist entertainment. It allows us to refresh ourselves.
July 8th, 2005 at 2:25 pm
Tragedies like this one makes us realize that there are too many weirdos out there - religious fanatics and power-grabbers - who will do whatever - even hurt innocents - in order to get their way.
July 8th, 2005 at 7:46 pm
I just can’t understand why anyone would want to hurt other people. There is really NO reason good enough for that.
July 8th, 2005 at 9:37 pm
I know. I just don’t understand. Those people riding those trains and the bus did nothing to the people who killed them. All they did was live in a free country, and there are those in the world who think that’s crime enough. Very, very sad.