I went out to lunch with some people I know yesterday (you can never go wrong with Mexican food at lunch) and, somehow or another, we got on the topic of where we were when 9/11 occurred. We were discussing if we were near someplace where we could watch TV and see things as they were happening. Two of them were while I was relegated to struggling to find any working Web site I could with information.
Then one of my lunch cohorts mentioned how I wouldn't need to worry about finding a TV for that purpose because this sort of thing is not likely to happen again during our lifetimes. This person was not at all arrogant about this statement. It was more of a hopeful declaration than anything else.
I hate to sound so pessimistic, but I just don't believe that. And I really don't think I'm wrong for this point of view.
Let me give you some reasons why...
1. We are the most outspoken of all Democratic nations. There are many more like us, but, because of how visible we are in the world forum, we are the nation that first comes to mind when the word "Democracy" is brought up. Not everyone supports this ideal.
2. While some countries are backing down in Iraq, our president wants to shore up our armed forces contingent. Color me crazy, but I just don't see our opponents in the Middle East and elsewhere being all too happy with that decision.
3. Despite being hit in the past - and badly at that - by terrorist attacks, it still seems as though many people in the U.S. are prone to "puffing out their chests" and declaring that this sort of thing can never happen. Mmm hmmmm.
4. Our insularity makes us ignorant to what's going on outside our borders. There is so much we should be learning about in the world. So many current events that very few of us know are going on. And what's dominating our nightly newscasts now? Anna Nicole Smith's DNA and Britney Spears' head shaving and rehab merry-go-round. Does anybody remember what dominated the news just before 9/11? Anne Heche's post-Ellen mental breakdown. Truly hardhitting and newsworthy. Seriously, go back and check it out.
True that the last one is not exactly the hardest of evidence, but still.
I realize that this is not exactly the sort of thing you expect to read here. Lighthearted? No. Funny? Not exactly. Many of you may have even started reading it, gave up, and moved on to another blog. I apologize for that. But it's something that's on my mind and isn't that what blogging is all about?
