What Is and What Should Never Be

Today, being the day that is -- I'm sorry but even though the modus operandi of this blog is to point out the obvious, I just can't summon the desire to state today's date. It's trite and tedious. More importantly, TODAY is not significant... that is, unless something particularly wonderful or horrible personally happened to you or your loved ones. I mean this date in 2009 has no significance other than to cruelly remind us of life events eight years ago. I don't want to dwell on what happened. Rather, I'll take a moment or two to think about what did not.

The New York Times has a marginally interesting piece today about the terrorist attacks from a different perspective -- the ominous "The Day After." I say "marginally" because it focuses particularly on life and the reactions of small business owners in Manhattan on September 12th. That's fine, though I don't know if the concerns of a tourist-trap souvenir shop owner really warrant an article, even if it's in the NY Metro region section. I like the big picture. I can't help but think of the incredible ground-swell of love and sympathy this country received from strangers all across the globe. How, for the most part, our elected officials stood united and we took time to talk to our neighbors.

And then, so very quickly, it got flushed down the toilet.

The bitter divide in this country that was apparent during the 2000 Presidential election started to grow and morph into something sinister and devoid of compassion or reason. The actions of our government -- justify or crucify to your heart's content -- resulted in the USA as being one of the most despised nations on Earth. The term 'Ugly American' took on a new meaning.

I watched my own city descend into some surrealist version of itself as early as September 12th, as soldiers with automatic weapons roamed empty streets and fighter jets buzzed rooftops. Mobile missile batteries were deployed next to major bridges into the city. Paranoia, fear, and mistrust settled into the most open of hearts.

I thought it might be a nice change of pace to post, once a week, a song or video that encapsulates our blog's theme. You know, give us a chance to relax from trying to comprehend all of the hate in our universe and just sing a happy tune. Too bad for us, our music is equally upsetting. So, today's music video, The Chemical Brothers' "Believe", is in dedication to that state of mind that plagued us on "The Day After". Unfortunately, for too many of us out there, this feeling persists.

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