Life, amazingly, goes on

(September 18, 2001)

Well, it's been one week since four commercial airliners were boldly appropriated for use as guided missiles and sent hurling into our lives, changing all of us pretty much for good. Like most people the world over, I'm walking around in a kind of hyperdaze. Senses perked for news 24/7, attuned sharply to the boiling-over tensions of the world but numb to the inconsequential details of my personal daily life. Are you feeling that?

Does it whack home the reality of people just like you who live in other countries that exist, daily, with the possibility of being blown up or invaded? I mean sure, we know our history and we know the general gist of Desert Storm and the Iranian conflict and etc etc etc. We can talk about the causes and actions of our "villians." Castro. Khaddafi. Ayatollah. Intellectually , we know this stuff.

I remember when I went to Paris to visit Lola some years back and they were in the middle of a bombing spree. Authorities were blowing up "suspicious" briefcases and backpacks in the train stations and airports. All of a sudden, "BOOM!" with no warning. And the trains were PACKED, because some of the routes were closed down. Utter chaos. The Europeans were barely fazed. Apparently, in London and Paris and Dublin, shit blows up all the time. They're USED TO IT. I was amazed. I thought, "God Bless America."

So, one week. How many more weeks, how many months, how many years before I'm USED TO this feeling, being unable to fully unclench even enough to sleep, trying to do the things I need to do every day?

Some things I've learned? That Americans are just as stupid and just as smart as they always were. Maybe for both extremes, more so.

On the stupid side, American citizens are hurting and even killing other American citizens, men and women, just because they kinda maybe sorta look like the guys that hijacked the planes. Rebels without a clue. An Indian (from India) was shot to death. Egypt is being called "Middle Eastern" now. I can't stop worrying about our (Hub and my) Arab friends in Manhatten. (We all went camping in the Adirondacks this past weekend-- they're fine. Physically.)

On the smart side, those senseless incidents are very few. On the whole, cooler heads are prevailing. We're discussing. We're working. We're sharing ideas. We're touched by the heroes, we're aching deeply for the families of the murdered. We are all reaching out to our family, our friends, taking extra time to ask "how are you" not as a meaningless conversation substitute, but for real.

How are you?

How are YOU?