Ten Years Later

This weekend will be a media orgy of remembrance and flag waving and demands that we "never forget" as though that were possible. 2977 people from 90 countries killed and here we are now, thousands more Americans dead in the deserts of Iraq and the poppy fields of Afghanistan, while at home we happily surrender our civil and political liberties in the name of safety. We suffered an act of terrorism, not " terror." Terror is how we reacted as a nation when the bastards flew the planes into the buildings in an act of terrorism, an act designed to provoke fear in we the survivors. We gave the terrorists what they wanted, a nation in terror. We sucked on the teat of fear and drugged by beery promises of safety agreed to be afraid and quiescent.


So we take off our shoes and our belts, we cheer torture and collateral damage and forget that our forebears held themselves to a higher standard. They didn't always attain it, certainly, but they tried and sometimes they pretended in the name of civility. We don't even pretend to be above fear, and we certainly don't pretend to be civil to our enemies as our mothers taught us.


Never forget indeed; let's do some remembering I say and remember what life was like before 19 Saudi assholes (not Iraqis) took our faith in ourselves and our values and hung them out to dry in the name of security.


This isn't the time to be chuntering on about Key West and it's streets and it's quirks and it's piddly little problems. This weekend is a time to turn inward and tune out the noise and reflect on what that day ten years ago means to each of us.


Whatever it means to you I hope to see you back bright and early Monday morning refreshed, and ready to enjoy a little window on this peaceful little world we call the Florida Keys.


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