One Year Later...Sept. 11, 2002, in a Nutshell

Well, I'm sitting here at 5:13 in the morning, it's September 11, the first anniversary of the attacks and I suppose I should say something, but I don't know exactly what. I think as it is the media is going to soak us in so much 9/11 coverage there's not much point in my echoing it.

Still though, it's definitely an important day and a day for reflection and for tributes. Meanwhile, amidst the ceremony and remembrance, there's tension in the air, as the government has put us on alert for new attacks as we commemorate the old ones. There are pleas for war and cries of "give peace a chance" and amidst all the craziness and fighting, doctors and Supermen are quietly making miracles happen.

When I think of the times we're in now I'm constantly reminded of a song Paul Simon wrote back in the 80's, called The Boy in the Bubble. Here's an excerpt of the lyrics, they're nearly two decades old now, but I think they sum up our current world as well as anything else I could think of:

It was a slow day
And the sun was beating
On the soldiers by the side of the road
There was a bright light
A shattering of shop windows
The bomb in the baby carriage
Was wired to the radio

These are the days of miracle and wonder
This is the long distance call
The way the camera follows us in slo-mo
The way we look to us all
The way we look to a distant constellation
That’s dying in a corner of the sky
These are the days of miracle and wonder
And don’t cry baby don’t cry
Don’t cry

© 1986 Paul Simon

I guess that sums up how I feel about our times. There's a lot of bad going on but a lot of wonderful and amazing things, as well. It's just a damn crying shame everyone can't put aside their hatred, step back, take a look at how incredibly far mankind has come and really put their noses to the grindstone to make even greater, bolder leaps. There's so much potential for greatness right now and too many dollars spent on crap. Crap like tanks, bombs, fighter-jets, poisons and nuclear missiles - all of which we could live without if people could appreciate the smallness of the world we live in and the immediate need for us to get it together spend less time worrying about our individual and national beefs with one another and think about all the problems we face as human beings on the whole.

Maybe we'll make it, somehow. Here's hoping everyone's safe and well on this day historic date and I hope everyone takes a moment out of it to think about how lucky we are to have our friends, our family and our health and to think about the people we've lost in the year that's passed since 9/11 and how we can come together to makes things better in the years ahead.