Today America grew up. We've been comfortably blind to the world so far. No longer. They can hurt us at home. We knew it but never let ourselves believe. I think this is the dawn of a new era.

I'm afraid.

I'm afraid that our government will lead us into acts of violence that equal or surpass those perpetrated against us. Personally, I've had more than enough horror for one lifetime. I'm afraid our government will use this tragedy as an excuse for years of right-wing policy-making. I'm afraid of domestic fascism. I'm afraid that racist bigots will use this as an opportunity to express their hatred. I'm afraid that too many borderline terrorists now have role-models that will lead them over the edge.

I will, for the rest of my life, have an image of that AA jumbo-jet piercing trade tower two like a bullet through an apple.

My heart goes out to the people that are hurting. My admiration goes to the New Yorkers for pulling together and being real human beings.

Give Blood

...

I am 26 today.

...

I hope that each and every one of you that read this are whole physically and emotionally.... and that all of your friends and family are as well.

Love,
-Jared

Extra

Links

...I love all of you, hurt by the cold...
m4dd4wg
Happy Birthday, Jared!

Thought I would share my story. I was super grumpy yesterday morning. With only four hours of sleep, I left the house at 6:30 for my 8:10 flight to Atlanta. The security guard at the Philly airport gave me a hard time about the way I loaded my bag onto the conveyer belt, and I got into a shouting match with him. (This is normal behavior in Philadelphia) As I walked away, I was like, "Well gosh, if there's a terrorist attack, you're going to be real sorry." Still didn't give the guy an excuse to be an asshole.

I'm sort of scared of flying, so as we took off, I was like, "OK, planes are safer than anything, the only thing bringing this puppy down is a terrorist." (Terrorist were weighing heavily on my mind, I guess.) The flight to Atlanta was uneventful, until we got on the ground at 10:30, and the pilot came on the air and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm sorry to tell you this... but... but... something terrible has happened in our nation today." The airport was utter chaos, and although I wanted to give my boss a call, I just hopped the subway downtown.

Anyway, I'm stranded in Atlanta until the planes start flying in full force again. I'm just counting my blessings.

Although I've called her a few times, I still haven't heard from my friend Regina, who was interviewing in the financial district these past few weeks. I pray she's allright. The weekend before last, her boyfriend and I were sitting on her roof in the East Village smoking weed and looking at the WTC, saying stuff like, "Dude, those buildings are so fucking huge - they look they're just across the street!" Seriously, taking the train through Jersey, you can see them half-an-hour before you get to New York. It boggles my mind.
beanie
Whoa!
m4dd4wg-- Damn. That's scary. I'm glad that you're safe. Everytime I get on an airplane, I'm always more worried that it's gonna fall out of the sky rather than a terrorist getting hold of it. I guess that's going to change now. Lots of things are going to change, I'm afraid. The one thing I fear most, though, is a war. What are we going to do?
loophole
Just had to add this...

Read This.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

m4dd4wg
I'm proud to be an American - 'cause at least I know I'm free
Yeah, I was watching the news last night and McCain was on CNN talking about how the government is going to do what it can to "protect the American way of life." I was like, "Dude, like what is the American way of life?" Driving SUVs? Wasting farmland to erect McMansions? Wearing Nikes made by brown-skinned girls working for pennies a day? I'm gonna be hella pissed off if we start dropping bombs over that shit. I don't see any point in defending the lifestyle of entitled, middle class, corporate zombies.

Regina emailed me and said she's fine, BTW. Its a relief for me.
loophole
The American Way of Life

Yeah, what they don't say is which American's ways of life they are protecting. I bet you money it's not anyone you or I know personally. As long as we stay corporate wage-slaves no one gets hurt.

Glad to hear Regina is alright :)

ethereal
tolerance
One of the neatest things I heard, and on a local news program, which really suprised me, was this quote from someone at an islamic temple in tulsa: (note, this is from my memory, but it's the general idea I like) "We didn't take McVeigh's actions as a reflextion of Christianity, we hope the wtc terrorist's actions arn't taken as a reflection of the Muslim faith"