It was an exciting drive up from the Farm in the icy rain. One moment you are hurtling down a wet stretch of asphalt and the next the onboard computer is struggling to keep all four wheels connected to anything at all. It is an automotive equivalent to the arc of history we all shared this last week.

The unexpected ice was what caused the paralysis across the region. Everything on the public sector side of things- Government and Schools- either started late or surrendered to the prospect of some moderate icing. The private sector got on with things and reported to work on time to sell us coffee or breakfast burritos to keep their rent paid.

The temperature hovered right at the freezing point. I pensively pecked at the computer and answered a long technical question from a former colleague and listened to the state of traffic on the radio. I didn’t get to the morning rant and was burned out by the cascade of news and commentary that appeared on the screen in the Great Room of the farmhouse as rain rattled on the tin roof. Mixed in all the horror was some inspiration. We knew that one of the cops executed by the terrorists was a Muslim. Another Muslim at the kosher supermarket led potential hostages to safety in a food storage cooler. Both of them were heroes.

This is a highly nuanced crisis and simple answers are usually wrong. Some encouraging signs of introspection came in a remarkable address by Egyptian President Sisi to a group of influential imams might be a start. It is high time, but there was no acknowledgment of how significant that might be. After all, we were backing the Muslim Brotherhood President Mursi until he was deposed.

I suppose the problem we have is that we either do not understand the nature of what we confront, or that we are just clueless about how to address it. Or both.

Rants I can’t and won’t go on: why no one was dispatched to Paris to join the almost two million people who went to the streets to say “Assez. Ce est fini.”

I will just agree with CNN commentator Jake Tapper, who wrote on his blog post: “I say this as an American — not as a journalist, not as a representative of CNN — but as an American: I was ashamed.”

Je suis Tapper on that one. Attorney General Holder was actually in town, using the Tour Eiffel as a backdrop for the Sunday morning talk shows. Beats me why he didn’t show up for the photo op- he has certainly rushed to visit the scene of other high-profile deaths.

For goodness sake, the King of Jordan, a direct descendent of the Prophet of Islam, walked arm-in-arm in defense of free speech- or, as some are calling it “Freeze Peach” in an effort to trivialize something I consider central to our way of life.

By the time I was confident that people up north had got where they were going and the roads were ice and gridlock-free, I buttoned the place up. As I drove, I was listening to the local news and traffic station on the radio- the best alternative to binary choice of national media inputs. I was more concerned about the water main break at the Rt 29 exit in Arlington than jihadis, and heard the disturbing news that the rain had infiltrated once of the Metro tunnels, causing a arc of electricity from the third rail that produced dense smoke.

One of the trains departing L’Enfant Plaza came to a halt 800 feet up track and a woman was overcome and died. 83 other commuters reported smoke inhalation and required treatment. The good news is that this is the first death on the Metro system since the 2009 crash that killed eight passengers and a train operator. The bad news is that they don’t really understand what caused the Third Rail problem.

I will stay away from public transportation, but of course I have been of that opinion since the 2004 Madrid train bombings, and my resolve only increased after the 7/7 Tube attacks in London. A few bombs here and there really shouldn’t detract us from the larger view that these acts of butchery are really just anomalies, not a symptom of something deep and profound.

The apologists are out there. Noted Koranic Scholar and former Governor of Vermont Howard Dean summed it up pretty eloquently: “I stopped calling these people Muslim terrorists. They’re about as Muslim as I am. I mean, they have no respect for anybody else’s life, that’s not what the Koran says. And, you know Europe has an enormous radical problem. … I think ISIS is a cult. Not an Islamic cult. I think it’s a cult.”

ISIS is not Islamic? I am glad Howard is on top of that. That is useful information. I wouldn’t want to express intolerance. That is the new Third Rail around these parts, and you can see what happens when you mess with it even in a cartoon.

Copyright 2015 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303