I've conquered my past
The future is here at last
I stand at the entrance
To a new world I can see
The ruins to the right of me
Will soon have lost sight of me
Love rescue me.
-Bono, Love Rescue Me; Rattle and Hum

Some people are already making the choice to not give in to fear and not give in to hatred. Good. Fuck fear. Fuck bigotry. You picked the wrong city, Jack. NYC has 8 million people on it and I think they've demonstrated to the world that the handle shit very well. At peak, 50,000 people could have been in the WTC; the fact that there are as few casualties as they are estimating given the magnitude of this event is astonishing to the world. It's not to me. For 5 ½ years I worked at NYU and advised well over 600 Econ majors. I have no idea which kids (ok, they're young adults, but I watched them grow up) will not be returning from the World Trade Center. I've been getting some e-mails trickling in, so there's always the hope that like most people, they don't care to contact their old school. (If any of my former students are reading this, please drop the Alumni association a line. They're posting names of alumni who have checked in.) I digress. Fact is, that New Yorkers showed us what love is all about this week. People gave blood in record numbers. People were being turned away because the Red Cross had too many donations and didn't know what to do with them. As it is looking more and more like military action will take place soon, I ask you to choose another route. Choose love over hate. Don't bomb a country with innocent civilians into a parking lot for the sake of a network of terrorists. I've heard people say this on the radio more than a few times this week: "Let's turn Afghanistan into a parking lot!" You tiny, tiny people. Ask yourselves what good would that do.

Also, I'm pissed at some pockets in America, folks. I'm pissed that the uglies have come out to play. Usually, they hide with their cowardice and bigotry, but the second they are given what they believe to be an opportunity to act on those underlying feels of hatred toward those who don't look like them, they jump at it. I'm pretty sure that I am preaching to the choir when I write this to the PopImage audience, as I doubt there are many among you who fit into this category of people. I write this to you for another reason: speak out against it the moment you see it. Don't let a comment about our dark-skinned brothers and sisters go unchallenged. Don't let people dehumanize fellow people who happen to hold a different belief system from the general population, don't allow anyone to equate Muslim with Terrorist, and above all, don't be silent. Silence is not golden, folks. In this case it is a dangerous non-action that will result in pain for others. Let's not repeat the mistakes of history again.

I thought I had more to say, but upon reflection I will save those things for an upcoming photojournalism piece that will be up next update. I apologize to all of you: our loyal audience, our contributors, and the new folks who I hope will stick around. We update weekly, usually. I just had too many other things to do since September 11, 2001 to make this my top priority. I hope you'll forgive me.

Sincerely,
Ed Mathews
Editor in Chief
PopImage