The Paris Attacks (and - I'm Back!)

I'm back!  I've been unable to access my Blog and my Facebook this last while because of a major computer booboo.  Our main computer was toast.  We now have a new computer and we're gradually getting everything up and running again.

I am most distressed about the weekend terrorist attacks in Paris!  Cowards attempted to kill thousands of innocent Parisians along with many tourists out for a pleasant Friday evening in the "City of Lights".  We now find out they were only partially successful!

Security personnel stopped one terrorist as he tried to enter a soccer stadium with over 50,000 spectators present!  When discovered, the coward blew himself up at the entrance.

Others escaped through the back door of a theatre under siege, saving their lives.  Over 100 others in the theatre were not so fortunate! 

This kind of terrorism is abhorrent!  The world must unite to stop it!  Here's what I think we as Canadians need to do;

• Convince Prime Minister Trudeau to slow down his plan to bring in 25,000 Syrian refugees into Canada over the next six weeks.  Reports are saying that one of the terrorists in Paris arrived in France disguised as a Syrian refugee. Canada should send temporary relief to the refugee camps now, then bring in the refugees only after they have been thoroughly checked out by our security systems here. 
• Convince Prime Minister Trudeau to leave our small RCAF contingent in Iraq to continue their fight with ISIS who have now claimed responsibility for the terrorism in Paris.  I think pulling them out now would be seen as a sign of cowardice.
• Support groups trying to help refugees settle here in Canada.  After all, most of us are descendants of others looking for a better and peaceful life here in Canada.  Now it's time to pass it on!
• Show our support for the people of France through this horrible time in their history in any way we can.
• We must realise that these cowards who declared war on France Friday represent only a very, very small percentage of Muslims and/or Syrians.  We must always keep that in mind!

Are We Doing Something Wrong?

I was shocked to learn that about 200 young Canadians have run off to join the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (often called 'ISIS' or 'ISIL'), the radical terrorist group in Syria and Iraq.  It also bothered me that about the same number of young Americans ran off to join, even though the population of the United States is ten times that of Canada!  

Is Canada becoming a terrorist recruitment center?  If so, we're doing something wrong here.

Is it our "Cultural Mosaic" idea that is fostering this?   Canada prides itself on being a mosaic of cultures instead of the American "Melting Pot."  We encourage folks to enrich our Canadian culture with their own, brought from the four corners of the Earth.  We're also encouraging our native groups to resurrect and build back their cultures, so many of which have been almost lost.

I personally think this approach makes Canada stronger and more tolerant, in a world here practically everywhere and every culture is accessible in hours rather than months!

But we are, first and foremost, Canadians!  But do these young people heading over to Syria understand that?  Maybe they're heading over there looking for risk and adventure, much like the Canadians who ran off to fight against Franco in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s. 

I don't know.  But I do think we have to examine what we are doing (or not doing) that encourages these young people to join a terrorist group overseas.