Another Friday

So, the Tico Times in their colorful use of the English language has decided to call this weeks bank holdup and hostage situation a massacre. A picture shows terrified tourists fleeing Monteverde...

Not that the failed bank robbery (which resulted in 9 dead and 17 injured) isn't terrible. 'Cause it is. The suspects, all except one were killed during the 24 hours that the bank was held, were young men suspected of at least 4 other violent robberies on supermarkets and restaurants. And, to add fuel to the fire, they're Nicaraguans. Other information is mostly sketchy - including the list of those killed, how many attackers there were in the first place, etc. Evidently, the shooting started with the attackers shooting at the bank door as they approached (evidently, they didn't care about the stealth or surprise). At some point the bank guard shot back, killing two of the assailants. People around here, as we all walked around, eyes glued to the morbid images on TV, made comments like, 'yeah, they better kill all the attackers, so as not to encourage more bank robberies.'

I think the whole country is kind of in shock over it all...I know I was...and scared too because I need to go to the bank today!

But then, Jen S. told me about the shooting of a judge in his courtroom in Atlanta Friday. Plus, there's all this about the Lefkow killings, the FBI corruption sting in my very own Monmouth County, NJ, the report that retired NY cops were Mafia hitmen, and the host of other violent crimes going on in the States...

So, perhaps the only difference between violent crime like the bank robbery here and violence at home is that here it's truly shocking. Not shocking in a omigoodness! kind of way, but shocking in a the-entire-country-is-in-denial-about-our-deteriorating-human-security-and-so-we're-going-to-pretend-to-be-shocked-by-violence way.