I spent the last two years, coincidentally, researching and doing interviews about the London Blitz, for an upcoming book. So—even though I do indeed have the bejeebus scared out of me—I intend to go all Vera Lynn, and stride by the Empire State Building and Grand Central, chins up, humming “There’ll Be Bluebirds Over the White Cliffs of Dover.”
If I’m going out, I’m going out in style.
jarbabyj: Don’t have a nervous breakdown. All we can do is live our lives with courage & honor.
Eve: Does your state really have a legislator nitwitted enough to stand up and say in public that the Empire State’s water supply is vulnerable? I mean Osama & Co. have probably already thought of dumping shit in the water, but I see no reason why we should give these scumsucking bastards any ideas. Great Christ, some of our elected leaders need to be beaten above the kidneys with rubber truncheons.
I love Eve’s spirit, and hope to emulate her behavior.
I see it as another way of raging against the dying of the light.
Precisely, Eve. Thank you.
Yup. State Assemblyman Jeff Klein said in a press conference that many of NY’s water supplies were largely unguarded and easy to infiltrate. I agree that this situation should be fixed pronto—but announcing it to the public at large might not have been the best game plan. Unless, of course, Mr. Klein was trying to look “on top of things” for votes . . .
No, you have it precisely wrong. You are cowering. Going to 4th of July festivities, living your life joyously, and spitting in the face of terrorists is, in the context of 9/11, what is meant by the Dylan Thomas poem Eonwe quoted:
What you are doing is letting inchoate fear suck every drop of joy and vitality out of your life. If you’re going to spend the rest of your days hiding in a dark room, then the terrorists might as well have blown you up because their goal has been accomplished; they stopped you from living.
Fine, then. Maybe it would have been better if they had. Because I’m a scared, weakling and there’s nothing I can do about it. I believe it when the government says an attack is imminent. Because obviously we’re doing shit all of being able to stop them, to the point where Osama bin Laden sees no problem in sending us his fucking home movies.
I haven’t lost my joy for living yet…I’m just trying to temper that with a knowledge that it could all end today…and that’s very depressing. I could wake up tomorrow and the statue of liberty could be gone.
I enjoy Eve’s spirit too, but unfortunately I don’t have it. And telling me to just ‘cheer up and stop worrying’ is like telling me to grow red hair.
I am encouraged to see other people admitting to at least being scared though. I knew I wasn’t the only person who believed these new warnings.
j
Jar, darling, I DO have the bejeebus scared out of me. I am completely bejeebus-free. But the important thing is to put on a good face and pretend to be brave, which is all most of us do.
We have every reason to worry, jarbabyj, just don’t let worry rule your life.
Oh, I’m scared, but I’m going out to have a beer anyway.
Well, the best I can offer you is an excerpt from “Be A Lion” from The Wiz:
It’s a bit of inspiration I summon up when I’m feeling small and scared. Somebody once said, “Pretend to be the thing you wish to be.” If you can hold on and act like you’re brave, you’ll become brave.
Leave it to a gay man to put every life crisis into the context of a show tune. 
And if you don’t cheer up, I’ll start singing “Tomorrow” from Annie, complete with Andrea McArdle impression.
I think there’s nothing wrong with not flying. I know people who refuse to use elevators because they don’t trust them, is not wanting to board a plane for fear of another terrorist attack a less valid reason. I don’t think Jarbabyj (if I’ve misunderstood you, I’m terribly sorry, Jarbabyj) is saying she’s hiding in a dark room. She’s doing what she feels is appropriate to make herself feel a little bit safer.
For my own part, I’m terrified. I do everything I can to forget the possibility of more attacks. I’m not even in the line of fire (an unremarkable town in a state with little appeal as a target) and I’m scared.
Everyone has different means of coping. Mine involve playing computer games, reading voraciously, and spending time with my girlfriend. People who aren’t comfortable going to a big event, or getting on an airplane have every right not to. If these things really do make them frightened, uncomfortable, or worried than by all means avoid them. How much fun will they be having if they’re always looking over their shoulder?
Oh I beg you jarbabyj, PLEASE cheer up. PLEEEEEEEEEASE!
OK, now that’s frightening. My mental picture of gobear will now forever include a curly red wig.
He certainly did. What he failed to mention is that terrorists would need several truckloads worth of contaminant to do any harm to the system. Sure, OBL could get 20 guys to break in and piss in the water - so what? It will be filtered out (before you go ugh, do you think birds avoid shitting in the reservoirs). There is a threat and I’m not denying that. However, the threat isn’t as great as the report states (but then, TV news doesn’t make money from well-rounded reporting, just sensationalism).
Is nothing too sick and twisted for these fiends
The obligatory link
thanks guys. I took a long nap and I guess what I was trying to say was more along these lines:
When I was little, like five or six, there was a weird, child molester sort of faulknerian idiot guy in our neighborhood who used to peek in my window and watch me in my room. It scared me a lot. I went and told my dad and he got out of bed in his UNDERPANTS ONLY and chased him away. He came back and said, “You don’t have to worry little j-bird. I’ll take care of you”
When I was nine, I fell off a set of bleachers onto a cement track and had to be rushed to the hospital. All I remember was the paramedics saying “don’t worry jessica, we’ll take care of you.”
And now, as silly as it sounds, at 29, I’m looking around at everyone saying “I’m really scared” and it’s extra scary when there’s no one to say “it’s going to be alright.”
I believe it is going to be all right. I have to, the alternative is too emotionally crippling.
Believe it or not I have not always been so serene. I used to fret and worry about everything even remotely connected with my life. I felt like just one more thing for me to deal with would push me over the edge. Then I came to the realization that I wasn’t enjoying myself very much and surprise! worrying never seemed to change anything.
I made a conscious decision to not worry about things over which I have no control and focus my energies on things that I could control. It took a bit longer before I realized that I could choose whether or not to control something just because I could.
I also decided to stop carrying around a lot of mental baggage. There are several people that I feel have wronged me or inflicted unwanted pain. Serious things like betrayal, or causing harm to me or my family members. I decided to forgive them, not because they weren’t wrong but because it hurt too much to carry the pain around daily, stewing in it and chewing it over and over.
I can’t change the past. I can try to live better and be a better person. I can’t change whatever has happened, but I can control my response to it.
If I sound like a 12 stepper, it’s because my life philosophy more closely follows the Serenity Prayer than I ever realized. I think it is funny how two totally diverse paths can have the same destination.
Things are still better than they were during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
Sorry. I’d do better at the comforting thing, but I’ve got the flu, & the top of my head is about to fly off.