The Parable of the Plotting Terrorists

One day while teaching, Josh was asked, ”Teacher, with all the trouble spots flaring up all over the world, what is the greatest threat to the West?”

Josh spoke thus:

Two terrorists were planning an attack.

“What we do,” the one terrorist said, “We walk into an elementary school with automatic guns, we start shooting.  We walk the hallways, shooting.  We go into classrooms, shooting.  We shoot, we shoot, we shoot.  The world will be terrified.  They’ll know terrorists could walk into any school at any time.”

The second terrorist pointed out that a random gunman had done that just recently.

“Has it been done in a mall?” the first terrorist asked.  The second terrorist confirmed that it had already been done in a mall.

“What about a movie theater?” the first terrorist asked.

That had happened three times in the past year, the second terrorist said, once because somebody had sent text messages in the movie theater.

“What’s wrong with these people?” the first terrorist asked.  The second terrorist did not have an answer.

“Okay,” the first terrorist said, “What we do, we blow up an oil platform!  They’ll be astounded, terrified that not only will we control the oil in the Middle East, but we’ll also control their oil here in their own backyard.”

The second terrorist told the first terrorist how an oil company rig had blown up and spread oil all along the beaches of the south, how an oil rig had been towed onto rocks on the shore in the north, how tar sand residue had caught fire in a city, and how two pipelines had burst in the middle of the country, jeopardizing whole communities.

“And they’re building a bigger pipeline right through their farm belt?  Where their largest aquifer is?” the first terrorist asked, “What’s wrong with these people?”  The second terrorist did not have an answer.

“Okay,” the first terrorist said, “We attack their infrastructure.  In the middle of rush hour in their biggest city, we’ll jam the biggest bridge, so only a trickle of traffic can cross.  We’ll show them how vulnerable they really are!”

The second terrorist just looked at the first terrorist.

“You’re not telling me...” the first terrorist said.  “Their governor?” the first terrorist asked the second terrorist when the second terrorist told the first terrorist what had been done, “Their own governor did that to them?  What’s wrong with these people?”

The second terrorist did not have an answer.

“Okay,” the first terrorist said, “We poison their water.  We pick a watershed that serves, say, almost half a million people, we put chemicals in the river upstream.  The suffering will make drone strikes look like gnat bites.”

The second terrorist did not need to speak but anyway did tell the first terrorist the story of a recent chemical disaster.

“They poisoned their own water?” the first terrorist asked, “Just to save a few dollars?  They poisoned almost half a million people, for the cost of half an hour’s inspection and half a day’s welding?  WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE???????”

The second terrorist said, “Now you know the worse punishment we can inflict on these people.”

The  first terrorist nodded, “We leave them to their own devices.”