We Didn't Start the Fire

Harry Truman, Doris Day, South Pacific, North Pacific, Joe DiMaggio, Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, Studebaker, television, North Korea, South Korea, Marilyn Monroe, H-bomb, Sugar Ray, Eisenhower, vaccines, Liberace, USSR, John Lennon, Juan Peron, Einstein, James Dean, Davy Crockett, Elvis Presley, Disneyland, Budapest, trouble in the Suez, Pasternak, Mickey Mantle, Sputnik, Lebanon, Charles de Gaulle, children of thalidomide, Buddy Holly, "Ben Hur", space monkey, Mafia, hula hoops, Castro, Edsel is a no-go, U-2, Syngman Rhee, Chubby Checker, Baby Boomers, Belgians in the Congo, Hemingway, Eichmann, Dylan, Berlin, Bay of Pigs invasion, British Beatlemania, John Glenn, GlaxoSmithKline, Pope Paul, Malcolm X, JFK blown away, Ho Chi Minh, Richard Nixon back again, Woodstock, Watergate, punk rock, cell phone wars, Reagan, honey bees, Palestine, terror on the airlines, Ayatollahs in Iran, Russians in Afghanistan "Wheel of Fortune", Sally Ride, heavy metal, foreign debts, tsunami, homeless vets, AIDS, crack, China's under martial law, MySpace, Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Francis Collins and J. Craig, Lance Armstrong, Gorbachev, Mandela and Homer Simpson are everywhere.

I have a friend who emailed me with a title of I Need Your Help. Great I thought, she wants my recipe for chili verde or maybe my Crock Pot Corn Crap recipe. Oh no, she wanted nothing of the sort.
My friend, Katie, is an American, teaching in the Philippines and asked to speak on ... Life as an American in conjunction with current events ... i.e. 9/11 specifically. Our opinion on what we think helped shape the United States and it's role in the World and what it is today. Did 9/11 change the United States?

Definitely not swapping recipes ... She explained to me that she almost did not ask me for my view as I have a very quiet political voice. But then she realized that I, Keena, have an opinion on everything from books and t.v., to child reering, hot dogs, to politics of every avenue. I do in fact have a very large political view that I only share with a select few as the subject can turn a conversation to hot very fast with some people ... point being, I am not the most sensored person so it is easier to just keep mum about certain things in efforts to keep friends.

She asked me to give my opinion and two hours later, I stopped typing. Above are things that I believe helped shape the World into what it is today ... some of those things were before my time but carry enough influence that spilled into my generation of X. Since I invested so much time, and this is my gosh darn blog, I decided to share my opinion with ya'll.

The Abridged Version of My Opinion ...
I believe that prior to 9/11 the U.S. believed we had immunity from attack. In my opinion, the attack of 9/11 was a long time coming ... sort of speak ... I think that many U.S. citizens and organizations, private, public and political had a sense that we as a nation were immune from ruthless rage of any American enemy. I think Americans have been encouraged to feel disconnection between the overseas actions of our politicians, diplomats, CEO's generals and the personal safety of our loved ones ... To summarize, I think we were a bit arrogant yet naive to the possibility of an attack.

Did 9/11 change my life? Oil prices, struggling economy, sure. The events in question did make me more appreciative of what I do have instead of obsessing of what I don't have, as thousands Iraqis are starved and killed by disease due to years of sanctions. It open my eyes to events outside my own small personal environment. It's unfortunate that it took a war on terror for me to notice my blessings. And frankly, I still find myself taking a lot for granted ... I am an American of course.

As far as the lifestyle of the United States is concerned ... The U.S. has the largest military buildup in American history. Things that include Stealth bombers, nuclear warheads, missile systems and laser guided bombs. America was free to involve itself in other nation's troubles without bringing the violence of war home. Some prime lessons that changed the U.S. lifestyle today ....

• Desert Storm - the days just before, America held its breath at the high casualties predicted. By the time CNN panned over the smear of Iraqi bodies on the road out of Kuwait, it was clear, America was able to wage war against the fourth largest army and suffer only a handful of casualties in its own ranks. We were immune.
• World Trade Center blew in 1993 ... the lesson again was that of immunity as the towers, so technologically sound, stood. Security was beefed up and life went on.
  
• Federal Building in Oklahoma blew up ... the lesson again of immunity. After a brief moment of concern that the Jihad had come to the U.S. it was later learned that the perpetrator was one of America's homegrown nuts. He had not attacked from without. Our nation's sleuth's caught him in record time. Life went on.
  

With 9/11 I think that our immunity or nonexistence of immunity is a little more respected than tragedies past. Ultimately, Americans have always adapted to new challenges from the Civil War to the Great Depression to WWII, Americans have risen to confront the monumental events of their times.

How did Bush handle the events of 9/11? His first public statement on 9/11 was that there would be an investigation. Then he dragged his feet. Then when it finally did happen the White House dragged its feet on providing information. They put a time limit and a budget on the process. When the report did come out, no one was to blame. Bush sent the message of fear. Be afraid, be very afraid. But not so afraid that you wont go out shopping or take a vacation to Disney World. I believe Bush "tried" to do his job, but never was on the right track and continued to loose sight of what we were doing. However, an attack of that nature has never happened in our history.

So in the words of Billy Joel ... "We didn't start the fire, but we did ignite it when we tried to fight it."