History Repeats Itself

I saw a small item on the local news last night about a campus bombing during the Vietnam War. I knew that Madison had a history of being very involved in the anti-war protests, in fact people commented often that the building where i used to work on campus was built to be "bomb proof." I had even heard the bizarre story of the man who bombed campus and returned here to open a sandwich shop. I just chalked it up to my theory that Madison is where crazy hippies go to die.

I looked into more after the news last night and found this. It turns out to be a terribly tragic story about the folly of youthful idealism and the tragic loss of a young researcher with small children. What i found most jarring was the language used in the articles at the time of the bombing. This was 1970 and terrorism, imperialist, and a bombing attempt by a flight student are all there. This bombing was more powerful than the Oklahoma City bombing and the three men who served time served 8 years and three years respectfully. Due largely to the changing attitudes about the war by the time they were apprehended. One man was never found.

Somewhere out there there is a man who drove a stolen van filled with $200 of home made explosives to a building ten minutes away from my house, walking distance to my daughter's school, parked it, lit a fuse and drove away. He killed a man with three small children and injured two others. He did absolutely no damage to his intended target on the fourth floor.

The convicted men said they were "bringing the war home." How much longer until the war comes back here?