9-11-2002

I don't have any direct connection to the terror attack. The day was burned clearly in my mind but when I think of it it's more a series of images and vignettes.

Today there's a great column on sfgate. I'm not sure how long it will stay there to read, but the gist is this there are better things to do than watch the coverage over and over. He had 10 better things to do today than mope. Here's my top 5 for today and onward.

#1 My number one memory of the day is watching munchkin dance into the cafeteria when we were there thinking school was being closed. In anything I do today and in the future I hope to delight in it as my son delighted in a piece of pizza from the cafeteria. My life is so good compared to most of the world it's high time to realize it and enjoy what I have.

#2 The towers were a great monument to modern life and mankind striving higher. So I'm going to make something monumental. I don't know what yet, but it will be the effort of creating that counts. We can't all achieve as monumental a thing as the towers, but it's all relative. I'm going to create something monumental by my standards.

#3 The most indelible image from the coverage of the twin towers for me is the people jumping. It's a tough thing to even conceive of, much less watch. I try to remember, though, that those people facing horrible possibilities made a choice. Good or bad they chose their end. So I'll make some choices. I can choose my attitude, my lifestyle, my job, my home. I hope I can choose wisely.

#4 I will not surrender to apathy. The founders of our country set up a system that allows me to participate. When I voted in yesterdays primary election I was only the 400th vote at 5:15pm. That's pretty pathetic. I'm a person of strong opinions it's time to voice them as productively as I am able. At every opportunity I am given.

#5 Rob Morse writes in the column I reference above that we should make love because "That's what every soldier in a combat zone wishes he could do". It's good advice literally and figuratively. Love each other. It's the best advice I could possibly give or get.

TTFN.