(AMHERST, MA) – Last week at approximately 9:10 p.m. (EST), a bus leaving the Hasbrouck bus stop on the Mullins Center via Southwest bus route was detonated by a still unidentified homicide bomber. The man got on the bus and shortly after, discharged the explosive. The bomber, as well as 15 UMass students, were killed.
The bus, pulling into the stop after the #34, was hit by the blast, as well as a nearby automobile. The PVTA bus was severely damaged and bodies and body parts were strewn across the street. Only the metal skeleton of the bus remains. The UMass Medical Center and Health Services have admitted approximately 100 injured students. Students nearby the explosion were asked to help the emergency personnel in administering aid to the victims. The attack was claimed by a military terrorist group shortly after. The strike was condemned by the US government. University classes are to resume this afternoon.
Now, you can take a deep breath. The above report in fact did not occur … in Amherst. Change the place and the people however, and it did, only 2 minutes from my study abroad university dormitory.
The foretold scenarios seem unimaginable. Such a horror would never be tolerated in Amherst. These are the types of things you only hear of on the news that happen in a land faraway.
Today, that far away land is Israel, a place where this inconceivable occurrence is actually quite common. A place where seeing an empty street in the place of a bomb site a few hours later is normal. This is where a staggering percentage of society has been diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder from witnessing the trauma of a terrorist act. This is a country in which most of society has known or been related to a victim of terror; one in which children, parents and spouses are left alone, families broken forever. This is a place where being a victim to a bus bombing is as equally as likely as being hit by a car while crossing the street.
When faced with the thought of such catastrophe in our own lives, we suddenly grow angry, sad, defensive, and most of all intolerant. So why has such chaos been endured in Israel for the past three years? Why hasn’t anyone taken any real steps to end this pandemonium? We all know from our country’s behavior toward Iraq that if the US feels its citizens are in any real threat, it is not in the least bit tolerated. Why should it be any different in Israel?
Now, slightly more conscious of the graveness of her situation, we must be sympathetic to and pro active in aiding Israel from enduring such tragedies in the future. We must urge our government leaders to take steps to pressure the perpetrators of these crimes and to dismantle these terrorist organizations. We must support Israel’s defensive military action against those responsible.
Most directly, we must remind one another of the inhumane tragedies occurring on the other side of the world, as if they were our own, right here in Amherst, by maintaining an understanding and sympathetic sentiment on our own campus. Haven’t we learned by now that we are not invincible? Surely the actions of Sept. 11 must reawaken our feelings of susceptibility and vulnerability.
If we turn our heads away and simply ignore Israel’s suffering, why do we deserve to live peacefully? We must be grateful it is not we at risk and as a token of our gratitude, become activists on Israel’s behalf. Let us hope and pray that there will be a quick and immediate halt to this misfortune and Israel can once again live in peace, a privilege we so fervently value and resolutely consider to be uncompromisingly ours.
