War in your living room

In the Revolutionary War it took days or weeks for reports from the battlefield to reach the citizens of the country. In the Civil War a few brave reporters, photographers, and artists went into the field to send reports, photos and drawings to newspapers. In World War II my family and I sat around the radio and read Extras from our local newspapers to catch up on what was happening in Europe and in the Pacific.

Last night, in the comfort of my hotel room in Isla Verde, I witnessed at first hand the brave reporting of Richard Engel and Brian Williams perched high above the conflict going on in the streets of Cairo. Their cameras detailed Molotov Cocktails being thrown, bullets being fired, men on horses and camels with machetes and whips riding through the crowd of freedom seekers attacking them, tanks belching smoke screens to allow some of these attackers to escape, a truck pulled over and the driver beaten- Well, I was watching war live at my bedside.



It scares the hell out of me to see this happening in a country that for five thousand years has had an incredible history, parts of which were being destroyed in the Cairo Museum yesterday.

Our world is becoming more and more violent from the recent massacre in Arizona to the hate-filled rhetoric coming out of Washington to this frightening conflict in Egypt.


Somehow people must learn that violence only breeds more violence. We don't have to love everyone in the world, but we must be civil to them.


What are the chances of this happening?