Rudy in London
“… not to let these terrorists affect our way of life.”
Rudy Giuliani happened to be in London, not far from one of the blasts, when the attacks happened this morning—a coincidence he cited as “eerie,” among other observations he offered to the BBC.
Amid this day of shock, I recall many voices returning to the machismo that laced the air not long after the attacks of September 11, 2001. I remember hearing much talk about not letting the terrorists change the way we live.
They’re nice words, but as an ideal, they’re also unattainable—or if they are attainable, we haven’t done a very good job of living up to them. That’s not necessarily a critique of politics, though there were several changes that swept into our lives on the coattails of 9/11. Some of them were rather unpleasant. Many, to be fair, have been undeniably necessary.
But even in the best case scenario, was it ever realistic to think our way of life could remain unaltered?
Maybe that’s what sticks with me, as I hear the voices saying similar things to what I so clearly remember hearing almost four years ago. “Don’t let the terrorists change the way we go about our lives.”
It’s almost surreal to hear this type of idealism from the same mouths who a few days ago were intent on blasting the aims of Live 8 as being pipe dreams.
The truth is, our lives did change after 9/11—drastically. A previously unmentionable set of thoughts entered our minds on a daily basis, for many it was a constant fear that has yet to be cleansed from our psyche. And the government gave us a nice color-coded chart to remind us of that nightmarish threat (a chart from which we never seem to see the bottom two colors—the ones that mean we’re relatively safe). The lines at the airport, and in many cases, embarrassing security screening procedures, remind us that the threat is omnipresent. Acts cloaked in “Patriotism” have helped to drill the point ever closer to the core of our awareness.
Eternal vigilance is ours, as way of daily living, and as a reminder of what brought it into our lives.
One can hope and pray with the utmost sincerity that Great Britain will find its way clear of this tragedy without totally surrendering their way of life, but one cannot realistically expect a Londoner’s life to ever be the same—just as one cannot realistically expect it in New York City, or in any other place touched by this type of horror.
The changes, once startling to our sensibilities, have slowly managed to fade into the background, but they’re still very real, and they did happen. No matter how you look at it, like any stone, or more fittingly, piece of excrement, thrown into the water, the terrorists will inevitable send their ripples into our lives; they will affect us—all of us. Though it is up to us to respond without losing what’s left of our sanity.
The goal isn’t to remain unchanged, but to survive, to somehow heal and go on. That’s what my prayers are for tonight.
