It appears that we are living in an age that disturbed or evil people upset with their government, families, bosses, or other concerns, can set off bombs, or fly planes into buildings that innocent persons are working in.

Austin, Texas, has experienced two incidents in a short period of time.  An angry young man fired a gun on the steps of the State Capital just a few weeks ago.  He was quickly apprehended, and no one was hurt.

Last Thursday, an Austin man, Joseph Stack, rammed his single-engine Piper Dakota into the seven-story Echelon building, which housed approximately 200 IRS workers, as well as employees of other companies.  The plane, weighing around 3,000 lbs., was full of fuel and could fly at a top speed of 200 mph.  People who were simply doing their jobs had no idea that their day would be far from normal.  People were hurt, some critically, and one IRS employee died, as well as the pilot.

Stack had evidently been in several confrontations with the Internal Revenue, and his anger built up into such frustration that he decided the only way to make his feelings known was to commit this horrible act.

The U.S. Transportation Safety Administration will be thinking of ways to restructure security regulations for more than 15,000 business jets that could cause serious damage if they fell into the wrong hands.  Now, it we hope they will also figure out a way to create more security when it comes to regulating these small private planes.

“Safe Rooms” are built into homes to protect their owners from natural disasters, but what kind of “fortress” would it take to really be safe where we work?  We must continue working for the life we desire and not be afraid.

It’s normal for all of us to complain from time to time about things going on in the world, (freedom of speech, right?), but special attention should be paid to individuals who are extremely disturbed about their work, the government, politicians, or who have continuous disputes with others.  Some remain silent, until it’s too late.  A way of preventing disaster from occurring might be if someone listened and tried to fix it.