As are the rabid hawks you sometimes hear on talk radio, advocating bombing the hell out of whatever country we hold responsible. These people are willing to descend to the level of the enemy, as individuals, and would apparently have no problem seeing our nation do so. It doesn't sound like many would advocate doing nothing. I would say that to fail to respond to this act of barbarism would be extremist pacifism. We've been given a big wakeup call.
Life is short and precious.
Some things we thought were important don't seem so important any more. And some things that we've been reminded are important, we realize we may have sometimes been taking for granted. If there's a silver lining in the cloud, it's that an encounter with the worst in human nature brings out the best in us. I'm sure we've all seen many moving examples of this in the news, the passengers who probably foiled a fourth crash into a building, the firefighters who lost their lives, the tireless rescue workers, the outpouring of generosity and compassion not only here but worldwide. Responding appropriately to a situation is the opposite of the extremist, who is more utterly convinced of his own correctness than in touch with reality or acting out of any genuine concern for the welfare of others.