Today is one of the most solemn days in America’s history. The sixth anniversary of 9/11. I can remember very vividly, I was in the CTG offices in Amherst when Christine came flying in saying “America is being attacked”. We had a tv in the break room but it wasn’t hooked up to anything. Fortunately, I was creative enough to rip the wire of an extension cord into a makeshift rabbit ears just in time for when the second plane hit. UNREAL! And all of us were worrying about the fate of three CTGer that were on their way to Louisville. Thank God…they were ok! Unfortunately, 6 years later…I don’t think we are any safe than we were before the attacks.
America the Beautiful, God shed his grace on thee. Does this sound familiar?
Oh say can you see…by the dawns early light…..
I remember when I was a kid, these were two of the most important passages recited during school. Never mind the issue of separation of church vs. state. The fact is…back then, we truly believed in those words. Today, I am not so sure. Life has become one complicated mass of “shit happens”. It seems that we have forgotten how simple things were back in the days of pre-Vietnam that I am almost inclined to think that most of todays high schools don’t remember that Vietnam WAS at one point in time, today’s Iraq…or was it? I am not convinced that terrorism can be confused with communism. One seems to inflict horrendous pain; the other seems to inflict philosophy. But both convey the same message…CHANGE!
Change is what the world is about today. We need to adapt to change yet I don’t think we have. Since I am too involved in the life of my family and friends, I have lost sight of what change means. And today, I am still wrestling with “change” as I try to accept the reality of the fact I am out of work. In fact, I am having a hard time with it. Although I do have a couple of “hits” or “nibbles” or whateveryouwanttocallit, it is still change that I am having a hard time accepting.
In the course of 1 year, I have set 8 personal bests in running, watch my oldest son grow up to become a fine young man living on his own (with a beautiful girlfriend to boot), watched my wife endure the pain of running only to begin to realize her dreams of beating me once again, saw the transformation of a young teenager into “learning the hard way”, gone bionic with my CI implant, and lost my job.
Yet…life goes on. As it has and will, every…9/11. God bless America and what she stands for.
Well said.
There are plenty of parallels between Iraq and Vietnam, even Bush has admitted as much. I wouldn’t say there are parallels between terrorism and communism, but I think there are between communism and Taliban (or Iranian) style Islamist states? Both can be made to sound utopian in theory, but are ruthlessly totalitarian in practice. Both wanted to export thier revolutions. I was thinking about blogging about that sometime, but not today. I have too many updates to do…
Hey Sam,
I think it’s the every day life of doing the same thing over and over that makes “change” so freakin hard to handle. Like every day at work I do this and then that, and if someone or something changes that, I’m like. what the hell is going on here, dont do that, no change allowed 🙂
At the same time though, I like change, I need it!
Oh well.
Hope everything is cool otherwise, and sorry I haven’t been around for a while. Should see more of me now, lucky you. Did ya ever get the chance to buy one of those lawn movers, lol…
Best of luck with the job hunting, hang in there.
Later,
Billy