And I might as well say that some of you aren't going to like this, and you know just how much I care about that sort of thing.
Anyway, I think everyone on both sides is taking this all too seriously. So thousands of people died. Thousands of people die everyday, deaths just as violent, if not quite as splashy. 'But they didn't deserve to die,' you say? Well, a good 60% of the people who die don't deserve it, but it happens anyway.
Plus, if you're going to feel bad about anyone, don't feel bad about the dead people. Death is not a big deal. Feel bad about the people who survive. The ones who are wounded but still alive, and the ones who lost loved ones. They're the ones who are going to suffer. The fact that tens of thousands of people died means very little. The fact that hundreds of thousands of people lost someone or something important to them means everything.
But of course, that's my perspective, and I know other people look at death differently.
Still, the thing that bothers me most about this whole thing is that it means there's going to be this surge of patriotism for a few days, they're going to keep talking about it and talking about it, and basically it's going to inconvenience me mightily.
And yes, this is the worst thing that could happen. Call me selfish if you want, but I didn't care about those thousands of people yesterday, and I see no reason to care about them now. If I did, I would have to care about every single tragedy that cropped up, and I'm just not interested. I see no reason to care about an attack against our country, because it isn't my decision to make about what to do. Things would be different if I were president, a general, a member of cabinet, or anyone involved in the decision making process. I'm not, so I'm going to sit back and let our elected officials do their job while I (despite my growing distaste for it) do mine.
Which is not to say I won't give my opinion if someone asks, but hell, I'd do that tragedy or no. So again, nothing changes.
I also think other countries are taking this way too seriously. Certain groups point to this as some sort of big demonstration of their power and our weakness. Other countries are commiserating with us and telling us how they'll support us, despite the fact this happens on a weakly basis for them. If you just step back a little and take a look at it from an objective viewpoint, it really looks ridiculous.
I mean, seriously, how much difference is this going to make? Terrorists have been attempting such attacks for a little over 60 years. Sometimes they succeed, sometimes they fail. They're going to keep trying.
We've been beefing up different security systems here and there for the last hundred years. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. We're gonna try again, and the next attack that gets through will send us into another panic, make us wonder what else we can do, get us to beef up security, and a few years later, another attack will get through.
Just because it hasn't happened recently, just because it hasn't happened to you, doesn't mean it hasn't happened, doesn't mean it won't happen. It's life, and you either learn to deal with it, lock yourself away from it, or commit suicide.
And this may make me seem heartless, and I'm sure some of you are saying that I wouldn't feel this way if I had been there, or if it had been someone I love. But before you make such a statement, remember that I envy every single one of them. I envy those who died and don't have to deal with this fucked up life and the aftermath of all this crap anymore. I envy those who were there and had something meaningful and noteworthy happen in their lives. I envy the terrorists who had something they believed in so strongly they would die for it. I envy those on both sides who were and are in a position to make decisions that affect the lives of millions of people. And most of all I envy those who had someone they cared for enough to suffer when they lost them. I have none of that, and if given a choice between going to work today, and bleeding my life out on the asphalt with thick black smoke lodged in my lungs and shrapnel piercing my body there is no way I'd have chosen to answer a fucking phone.
recent...
2001-09-11 - It's all a matter of perspective.
2001-09-10 - Evil
2001-09-10 - Go nowhere.
2001-09-10 - Quantum Causality
2001-09-07 - I'm of two many minds.
Step Back ---/// Take a Step ///--- End of the Path