Have you ever been through an event that drastically changed your perspective?

Today my city suffered its first terror attack. A person or group of people have taken hostages in a busy CBD cafe. Nearly 12 hours later, they’re still there. Still perpetrating an act of war against innocent civilians.

I’ve always regarded the events after the 11th of September attacks in the US with a level of disbelief. I couldn’t understand how the American people let their leaders pass the Patriot Act, with barely a whimper of opposition. I couldn’t understand the horrors of the war on terror, or Guantanamo Bay. But today, I felt myself thinking those same thoughts. Thinking that we need to do whatever it takes to stop these people, regardless of whether our rights are somewhat curbed. Thinking that maybe the death penalty isn’t such a bad idea after all. Thinking that if they tortured these people, I’d disagree, but not too strenuously. While sober perspective reinforces my opposition to such tactics, I can understand how things happened the way they did. And no one has even died in this attack yet (to my knowledge). Our American friends lost 3000 countrymen. Maybe what I feel now is only a shadow of the shock and loss they/you felt.

Have you ever had a moment in which your perspective has been changed? A point in time, where you suddenly understood something you couldn’t have before?