Drone Attacks in the United States?
This is beyond anything Americans know.
If drone attacks start here, every comfort in your life will vanish, replaced by constant, habitual fear. You would trade anything to escape, longing for the bodily, material ‘freedom’ you once took for granted. Anything to end the insanity.
You will live in a completely foreign state of sheer terror that this car, this train, this night, this school, this mall ... can be incinerated at any moment. Anywhere you hear a hum or a buzz, the radio, cars in the distance, water dripping, a coffee machine ... your first thought is death, you will have just enough time to recall the ones you love, and that’s it. There is no front, no battlefield far off ... they are palm-sized assassins, easily made and can move on an algorithm or joystick, they are cut from the morbid labor of killing and seated in the chair of a seasoned gamer, brought up on virtual slaughter or simply coded to do the butchery.
When AI merges into this lane, a year off maybe ... well, fire will rain from the sky, and the revelation will show us why we’ve always thought 13 to be unlucky, and why the wise say ‘there’s no such thing as luck.’
When I was in eastern Ukraine, very close to the front, I was welcomed into a home on Christmas Eve by the most wonderful family - that’s a story I could write a book about. I was a stranger, along with the soldiers who had just come off the line, who were welcome too. At the door was this giant of a fellow, one of the uncles, it seemed. He had a cropped haircut and a giant beard. He reached his huge hand out to me in welcome, and said in customary Byzantine style, “Glory to Jesus Christ !!” ... I reached for his hand, and before I could respond, he asked, “Are you afraid of the alarms on your phone or in the air?”
“No, should I be?” - Though I kinda was, to be honest.
He laughed, pulling me in and hugging me, saying loudly, “Glory forever! Welcome, my brother, to our family, your family also!”
Fear was destroyed; its head was crushed under the foot of family, love, courage, and a conviction of faith that was something very different from a charismatic Sunday sermon. In an instant, the anxiety I’d carried traveling across Ukraine, the broken heart I carried from the states, and the scared shitless response I’d get used to every time my phone’s alarm blasted incoming artillery - it all vanished, replaced by ... well, peace.
That Christmas gift, I’d been given a Family with a deep faith. For the next several hours, it was eating, singing, hugging, dancing, singing, drinking, drinking more, eating, hugging, dancing ... and always grateful to God for every act of love with one another. Unlike anything I’d experienced, truly another level.
There are very few places in my life I felt more safe, more welcome - meanwhile, that madness of drones was imminent, and a war was raging just outside. This stayed with me for the rest of my trip. I disabled the app and replaced it with new prayers I’d memorized in a language I didn’t know.
The next day I was in Kyiv when a massive attack of 500 drones and 40 missiles. Was there fear? I suppose. However, I was not overwhelmed by fear; I could help, serve if needed. I was present and at peace as fire rained down from the sky. Impartial, I guess.
So, as the chatter of drone warfare reaching the shores of the US picks up, how will you manage your own response? Is it inevitable? I don’t know. But if you truly think it is, then hear this warning from someone who just lived in that space - you have a choice: despair, fear, and anxiety of a violent death - or - family, love, and a gift of eternal life.