This Day in History

What do you know? September 11 has rolled around again. Early September used to mean school was earnestly back in session, baseball was heading into the playoff stretch and the ragweed was in full bloom.

Now we have a black cloud in September. I don't thik renaming it 'Patriot's Day' is going to help much.

Yesterday I see on teevee a little public service spot. Maybe you have seen it. The scene is a row of middle class houses. A dog is barking. The voice over sez something like �On September 11, 2001, terrorist tried to change America.� Next scene, same house but every last one of them is flying the flag. Voice Over: �And they did!�

This really pissed me off for some reason. I don't like knee-jerk patriotism. While it�s great that flag makers in China have made a few bucks recently, waving the flag at terrorism is not going to make it go away. Neither are the memorials and the moments of silence scheduled for today. And don't moments of silence make you nervous and want to look at your watch? Invading Afghanistan, Iraq and loading up on duct tape doesn�t seem to have done much good either.

Not that I have a new and better idea on how to make the terrorist appreciate the many things that are good about this country, then get off our butts and leave us alone. Most of the time, I'm a live and let live kinda guy. Wishing the rest of the world was more like me isn't really helpful either.

In regards to flagwaving, I do understand the need to do something. After the attacks, as part of the �Trauma Counselors to the Rescue� program, I got to go around to the grade schools and explain to little people that they were safe and the bad people were far away. Mommy, Daddy, the firemen and President Bush all cared about them.

I was lying about Bush, but it was a benevolent lie.

Then the kiddies and I painted giant flags using our hands dipped in paint for the stars and stripes. The flags were cute and reinforced the project most basic idea of what America is all about; individuals working together for something greater.

Cute, but the bad people far away will not be dissuaded by the little children painting flags.

So back to the question of 'did the terrorists change America?'

Have you hopped around on one foot at the airport lately? Do you get a little tense the moment a �we interrupt this program to bring you breaking news� comes on tv? Did your mind make that instant leapt to �terrorists� when the East Coast went dark or when the Space Shuttle blew up? Do you have to wear a dangling ID tag around your neck at work as you say �Good Morning� to a security guard that was never there before? Do you know anyone who has been laid off? How much money has your retirement fund lost recently? How much does gasoline cost where you live?

And then there is all that �violation of civil rights� stuff� Be afraid because Mr Bush and Mr Ashcroft are planning more. Being green-eyed and blond, I haven�t noticed it, but brown-eyed brown skinned and hawked nosed Hawk gets the full shake down at the airport.

America has changed.

Salon.com today has a feature today where readers wrote in to confess their most secret, selfish, non-politically correct thoughts concerning 9-ll. Thoughts like �Damn, they canceled baseball for 3 days� or �At least now we will never have to hear about Pearl Harbor again� or even a little dark humor like �Now the radio won�t play �It�s Raining Men� anymore�

Check it out, Here and here. It�s kind of interesting and very human.

8 People have told Dr JJ all about it