Monday, September 11, 2006

If they were giving grades for blogging, we'd get a big, fat C- (nobody gives F's anymore, grade inflation - besides our parents would call and complain; a failing grade would damage our self-esteem...)

We know we suck. You gotta make blogging a part of your daily routine again. Otherwise, you end up thinking of things to put in your blog but never actually get around to sitting down and typing it.

So here's to fresh starts.

Has it been 5 years since 9/11? A common thing you hear from people is, "the world changed..."

But did it? I mean, did it really change us? I could type something about this, but James Lileks seems to sum up my answer to the question.

Half a decade later the changes seem small, and perhaps that’s a blessing. If 9/11 had been followed by 10/17, 11/02, 12/24, the Smallpox Epidemic of ’02, the EMP blackouts of ’03, and so much promiscuous anthrax distribution that mailmen tottered around in Hazmat suits on the hottest day of July, America would look quite different. But the other shoe didn’t drop — or rather, Richard Reid was KO’d before he could light it — and consequently we don’t look at the paper for news about the latest attack. We look at the ads in the paper for news about plasma-TV sales.If 9/11 had really changed us, there’d be a 150-story building on the site of the World Trade Center today. It would have a classical memorial in the plaza with allegorical figures representing Sorrow and Resolve, and a fountain watched over by stern stone eagles. Instead there’s a pit, and arguments over the usual muted dolorous abstraction approved by the National Association of Grief Counselors. The Empire State Building took 18 months to build. During the Depression. We could do that again, but we don’t. And we don’t seem interested in asking why.The good news? We returned to our norm: cheerful industrious self-directed Americans who think in terms of fiscal quarters, not ancient grievances, and trust in Coke and Mickey to spread our message of tolerance and prosperity. The bad news? Same as the good. Or perhaps it’s the other way around.
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See you tomorrow.