March 8, 2026

The terrorist and the policeman come from the same basket.

Joseph Conrad (1857-1924), Polish-born English novelist, The Secret Agent (1907), Jay p. 102

MEDITATION: How could they not be from the same basket? Is not the policeman’s job to preserve order? And what does the terrorist want but to replace one order with another, more to his liking, if no one else’s?

COMMENTARY: The difference lies in accountability—a distinction fragile enough to vanish when power stops answering to conscience, and the laws, and the courts that enforce those laws. Terrorists answers to none of these. So when the enforcers of society’s laws are not accountable—that’s when the policeman mirrors the terrorist.

Think ICE!