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Keep your Kleenex, I'm not crying.
Sep. 11th, 2002 07:55 pm[re-posted from DiaryLand]
Today in particular and the past few days in general have been a time for many people to reflect on the past year, their lives, and their country. I seem to have a low saturation point for national soul-searching. Last year, as Old Glory was being pasted on cars and buildings all over the place, I felt like putting up a flag of the entire earth, because civilized society as a whole had been attacked. This year I am even less inclined to memorialize a specific three thousand and some people. I group them with those who died in the Oklahoma City bombing, those who died in the Nazi concentration camps, civilians killed in the bombings of London and Dresden, in Afghanistan, in Israel, in Vietnam, in Somalia, in Ireland, in Indonesia, in Yugoslavia, in Rwanda, throughout the world... throughout history. These three thousand are not a special three thousand. I'm sure each was special in his own way, each could have his story told in Newsweek, but the group they belong to is a very large group, and rather than honoring three thousand I would honor all civilians violently killed for political reasons. I would honor them, in a sincere moment, and then have done with it for the time being. Remembrance is good. Fixation is not.
Now that I've got that over with -- my brother's time in traffic court came and went very quickly. He said that everyone who showed up today was Not Guilty, except for one man who pled "no lo contendere" because he had no car insurance. I'm going to sign up as a substitute teacher at my old elementary school. I got some more job leads to investigate. I finished reupholstering chair #2 of the set of four. And that's the news from Lake Wobegon tonight.
Today in particular and the past few days in general have been a time for many people to reflect on the past year, their lives, and their country. I seem to have a low saturation point for national soul-searching. Last year, as Old Glory was being pasted on cars and buildings all over the place, I felt like putting up a flag of the entire earth, because civilized society as a whole had been attacked. This year I am even less inclined to memorialize a specific three thousand and some people. I group them with those who died in the Oklahoma City bombing, those who died in the Nazi concentration camps, civilians killed in the bombings of London and Dresden, in Afghanistan, in Israel, in Vietnam, in Somalia, in Ireland, in Indonesia, in Yugoslavia, in Rwanda, throughout the world... throughout history. These three thousand are not a special three thousand. I'm sure each was special in his own way, each could have his story told in Newsweek, but the group they belong to is a very large group, and rather than honoring three thousand I would honor all civilians violently killed for political reasons. I would honor them, in a sincere moment, and then have done with it for the time being. Remembrance is good. Fixation is not.
Now that I've got that over with -- my brother's time in traffic court came and went very quickly. He said that everyone who showed up today was Not Guilty, except for one man who pled "no lo contendere" because he had no car insurance. I'm going to sign up as a substitute teacher at my old elementary school. I got some more job leads to investigate. I finished reupholstering chair #2 of the set of four. And that's the news from Lake Wobegon tonight.