i'm running out of caffeine

[rootofnewt]

i'm too tired to walk to the store, but i might drag myself there with boy.

i helped some friends move... for three days. while i didn't do a lot of lifting, i did a lot of shih-tsu herding and am quite tired.

i slept a full 12 hours last night. it was good. i woke up once to hear sirens, twice for train whistles (odd, considering they trains to DC were supposed to be halted), and a few times i heard jets overhead... DC is being circled by fighter jets, though, so that's not worrisome.

yesterday's events didn't shake me. the rest of the world deals with a hell of a lot more uncertainty and terrorism on a daily basis. hell, a lot of that terrorism is practically sponsored by the US.

sure, a hijacked plane crashed into the pentagon, which is a mile away from my husband's office. yes, a lot of people died yesterday. these were horrid incidents, but it's not like they shook my sense of security.

i lost that a long time ago.

someone asked me why i wasn't visible shaken yesterday. i just looked at another friend and replied, "i lived in moscow during the chechen war."

three hijacked airplanes threaten me less than the actual bombs which were found daily in the metro stations i passed through on the way to school. i didn't stop going to class then. i just took my chances, like the other 10 million people in that city.

life goes on. freedom is valuable. this is why our soldiers fight in wars (well, MOST wars). this is why people in lebanon and palestine continue to fight for civil liberties. it's why there are underground movements in afghanistan, china, and canada. (okay, that last one was uncalled for)

and someday, maybe this country will actually extend civil rights to everyone, not just certain citizens. until then, i'm not going to agree with those folks who think that we need to uphold America's image of freedom and liberty and go blow a hole in some other country.

Comments

[seanmcguire.livejournal.com]

What terrorism is practically sponsored by us?

It's not that I disbelieve you - it's that I used to know these things, and I've been thinking about it a lot these last two days, but I don't know any more. Please educate me, or help me re-educate myself...

Thanks.

...

[krasota.livejournal.com]

for starters, there's the lovely School of Americas. there's the likelihood that the US fostered bin Laden during the Soviet war with Afghanistan. and then we can't forget our support of Israel, despite continued violence toward Palestinians.

there's probably more, but those are the few on the forefront of my mind.

it's an awful number for one day

[sabethea.livejournal.com]

i'm glad there seem to be many americans who aren't just in for bombing hell out of anyone who they think might have been involved.

but it was sad. it was an awful lot of people that died. a lot of places have constant terrorism, ireland included, but i can't remember in recent times a day when so many people have been killed at once. perhaps that's why people are upset.

but i do wonder how upset some americans would have been if it had happened abroad, say in Germany or Russia.

sabethea

"i lived in moscow during the chechen war."

[stmaybe.livejournal.com]

the soviet union was my specialty in college - i can only begin to imagine what that experience must have been like. wow.