I read some very good books over the summer. The one that I think about the most is The Road by Cormac McCarthy. It starts with a sentence that is almost poetry:
"When he woke in the woods in the dark and the cold of the night he'd reach out to touch the child sleeping beside him."
Civilization has ended and the man and his son are on the road, moving towards the coast. We never find out what ended civilization. There are no big-headed aliens attacking humans, or anything like that. We don't even know for sure why the man and the boy are walking towards the coast, except they need to keep on the move, and the coast is warmer than the mountains.
There are gangs of "bad people" who roam the earth, seeking out the weak to kill them and eat them. The man and boy need to stay away from the "bad people" while trying to survive, and trying to remain one of the "good people". The man's wife kills herself before the book starts. She couldn't stand the fear of what might happen.
The book asks some basic questions: If all of civilization was gone, what would you need to do to survive? And more importantly, what would you be willing to do to survive? Would you be willing to kill to survive? Would you be willing to prey on the weak and eat them? Would you remain one of the "good people" even if it cost you your life?
Can we defeat terrorism by turning into terrorists ourselves?
I am reminded of a poem by Stephen Crane:
A man feared that he might find an assassin;
Another that he might find a victim.
One was more wise than the other.
