support freedom

~ posted by laurie @ 2:10 pm et |

~ posted by laurie @ 8:22 am et | friday, september 14, 2001

the barbarians will learn what america's all about

by leonard pitts jr.
syndicated columnist

they pay me to tease shades of meaning from social and cultural issues, to provide words that help make sense of that which
troubles the american soul.

* but in this
moment of airless shock when hot tears
sting disbelieving eyes, the only thing
i can find to say, the only words that
seem to fit, must be addressed to the
unknown author of this suffering.

you monster. you beast.
you unspeakable bastard.

what lesson did you hope to teach us by
your coward's attack on our world
trade center, our pentagon? what was it
you hoped we would learn?
whatever it was, please know that you failed.

did you want us to respect your cause?
you just damned your cause.

did you want to make us fear?
you just steeled our resolve.

did you want to tear us apart?
you just brought us together.

let me tell you about my people. we are a
vast and quarrelsome family, a family
rent by racial, cultural, political and class
division, but a family nonetheless.
we're frivolous, yes, capable of expending
tremendous emotional energy on a
pop cultural minutiae, a singer's revealing
dress, a ball team's
misfortune, a cartoon mouse.

we're wealthy, too, spoiled by the ready
availability of trinkets and material
goods, and maybe because of that, we
walk through life with a certain sense
of blithe entitlement. we are fundamentally
decent, though - peace-loving and
compassionate. we struggle to know the
right thing and to do it.* and we are,
the overwhelming majority of us,
people of faith, believers in a just
and loving god.

some people - you, perhaps - think that
any or all of this makes us weak.* you're
mistaken. we are not weak. indeed, we
are strong in ways that cannot
be measured by arsenals.

yes, we're in pain now. we are in mourning
and we are in shock. we're still grappling
with the unreality of the awful thing you did,
still working to make ourselves understand
that this isn't a special effect from some
hollywood blockbuster, isn't the plot
development from a tom clancy novel.

both in terms of the awful scope of its
ambition and the probable final
death toll, your attacks are likely to go
down as the worst acts of
terrorism in the history of the united states
and, indeed, the history of
the world. you've bloodied us as we have
never been bloodied before.

but there's a gulf of difference between
making us bloody and making us
fall. this is the lesson japan was taught to
its bitter sorrow the last time
anyone hit us this hard, the last time anyone
brought us such abrupt and
monumental pain. when roused, we are
righteous in our outrage, terrible in
our force. when provoked by this level of
barbarism, we will bear any
suffering, pay any cost, go to any length,
in the pursuit of justice.

i tell you this without fear of contradiction.
i know my people, as you, i think, do not.
what i know reassures me. it also causes
me to tremble with dread of the future.

in days to come, there will be recrimination
and accusation, fingers pointing
to determine whose failure allowed this
to happen and what can be
done to prevent it from happening again.
there will be heightened security,
misguided talk of revoking basic freedoms.
we'll go forward from this moment
sobered, chastened, sad. but determined,
too. unimaginably determined.

you see, there is steel beneath this velvet.
that aspect of our character is
seldom understood by people who
don't know us well. on this day, the
family's bickering is put on hold. as
americans we will weep, as americans
we will mourn, and as americans, we
will rise in defense of all that we
cherish.

still, i keep wondering what it was you
hoped to teach us. it occurs to me
that maybe you just wanted us to know
the depths of your hatred.

if that's the case, consider the message
received. and take this message in
exchange: you don't know my people.
you don't know what we're about. you
don't know what you just started.

but you're about to learn.


miami herald columnist leonard pitts jr.'s column usually appears thursday on editorial pages of the times.
his e-mail address is:
leonardpitts@mindspring.com.

~ posted by laurie @ 11:11 am et | friday, september 07, 2001

the macsamurai cube cam is back up, since so many of you asked for it. i am not keeping it on 24 hours a day because we do like do enjoy some privacy, but if you really want to stare at me lounging on the couch watching tivo and sitting in front of this damn computer, you can do that for at least a few hours a day and most evenings.

~ posted by laurie @ 5:29 pm et | thursday, september 06, 2001

buy some macsamurai stuff | powered by cafepress.com

~ posted by laurie @ 6:29 pm et | wednesday, september 05, 2001

the tech commandments

~ posted by laurie @ 9:34 pm et | tuesday, september 04, 2001

today rocked. 'nuff said.

~ posted by laurie @ 6:17 pm et | monday, september 03, 2001

while ron went to the gym to bake on the sundeck and go for a rooftop swim, i spent a gorgeous afternoon in the park at greenwich and duane st today with my friend and her almost 4yr old son, and lots of other parents and their kids, all of whom asked me at one point or another: "so, which one is yours?" none of them are mine. i am childless. i just borrow other people's children for a few hours at a time so i can see what i am missing out on. it's a good system that works for me. it's not that i don't want kid. i do want kids. well, one kid. i don't think i could handle 2 kids, and i don't see either one of us being able to afford more than one kid, so one kid is enough. we even have names picked out (i'd tell you what they are, but you'd just steal the names). we just aren't ready to make the ultimate sacrifice that means giving up our free and easy childless lifestyle. yet.

anyway, while at the park, one of the kids i was playing with (i make a great pretty good monkey bar substitute) happened to run over to a man i assumed was his father, to rest. the father-type looked familiar to me, but i couldn't quite place who he was. then it hit me! it was none other than josh charles, best known for his role as dan rydel on the brilliant show sports night, which can currently be seen in re-runs on comedy central. i loved this show when it first aired, and thanks to tivo, i've been able to enjoy it all over again in cable syndication. josh was there with a woman who may or may not be his wife, jennifer connelly. from what i have read, it appears that the child in question is actually her son, and that she is josh's "companion". not that it's any of my business, but they're an awfully cute couple and the kid is pretty damn cute too :)

now ron and i are going to take a stroll over to montague street and have a nice dinner, al fresco, at one of our favorite dining establishments in the 'hood.

then i have to come home and get a good night's sleep for a big day tomorrow. wish me luck!

~ posted by laurie @ 4:18 pm et | sunday, september 02, 2001

these pretzels are making me thirsty!

~ posted by laurie @ 10:13 pm et |

bravotv is airing a 30 hour marathon of thirtysomething this weekend (interrrupted only by overnight infomercial programming). i've had it on in the background for a few hours today and it's really freaking me out. i'm already thirtysomething, and i'm not even close to being as selfish and whiny as those people are, which means i have a lot of catching up to do. ugh.

~ posted by laurie @ 5:03 pm et |

i am watching a program that my tivo suggested this afternoon on tlc. it's about air rage. i thought i was cranky after a delayed flight?? i don't hold a candle to some of these guys.

~ posted by laurie @ 1:42 pm et |

why can't i get my hair to look this good again?

~ posted by laurie @ 8:18 am et | saturday, september 01, 2001

"even when freshly washed and relieved of all obvious confections, children tend to be sticky. one can only assume that this has something to do with not smoking enough." --fran lebowitz

~ posted by laurie @ 10:55 pm et |

"smoking is, if not my life, then at least my hobby. i love to smoke. smoking is fun. smoking is cool. smoking is, as far as i am concerned, the entire point of being an adult." -- fran lebowitz

~ posted by laurie @ 10:46 pm et |

-"the only difference between graffiti and philosophy is the word fuck."

-i don't have an attitude problem. you have a perception problem.

~ posted by laurie @ 10:44 pm et |

"there are no office hours for leaders."
--cardinal james gibbons

~ posted by laurie @ 10:44 pm et |

"my life is a simple thing that would interest no one. it is a known fact that i was born and that is all that is necessary."
--albert einstein

~ posted by laurie @ 10:43 pm et |

this is why three-day weekends should be the norm.

~ posted by laurie @ 10:42 pm et |

"the trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent full of doubt."  —bertrand russell

~ posted by laurie @ 10:40 pm et |

since ron, my significant other, has been on jury duty for the past week and a half, he had to spend today in the office to catch up on some work. this foiled our plans to go to hartford, ct this weekend for a party his niece and her husband were having at their new house. the weather was perfect today and it would've been nice to be "in the country" - but it's not a big deal. we'll make it up there another weekend.

you'd think with this great weather i would've found something more interesting to do than alternate between sitting at my mac and sitting in front of my tivo all day long...but no, that was pretty much it until a friend of ron's called to see if we wanted to catch a movie with him. since ron was still at the office, i declined the couple invite, but it turned out that this friend's "wife" (they are sort of seperated, but still friends and it's too complicated and too much of an invasion of their privacy to tell you more) was interested in seeing the julia roberts/john cusack chick flick, which neither of our "spouses" would be interested in anyway, so i decided to go see the movie with her - just us girls. and her "husband" stayed home with their adorable child, while my man stayed at the office.

turns out moviefone.com was just plain wrong about the time the movie actually was playing. moviefone said there was an 8pm showing, but there was only a 6:45 showing, and an 11pm showing. but we didn't know that until we got there at ten to 8. so instead of a movie we enjoyed a nice evening walking around and talking girl stuff and eating some of the best chinese food i've had in a long time - at a place in battery park city called lili's. it's right next to the movie theatre. you should check it out. order the large bowl of hot & sour soup and be prepared to share with the table...it's huge!

it was a nice time though. she and i don't get together too often. we should though. i like her. she's good people :)

~ posted by laurie @ 9:45 pm et |

read this and learn:

attention deficit disorder in the workplace

this article hits so close to home, it's scary. i've never formally been diagnosed with add, but i've always suspected it.

~ posted by laurie @ 1:04 pm et |

the phone rang at 8:00 this morning and woke me from a deep sleep. i waited to hear who was calling at such an ungodly hour, since the machine was on. but whoever it was chickened out and hung up. i went back to sleep. then it rang again at around 10:15am. another hang up. but that one was enough to wake me up for good, so here i am. what a sucky way to start the day.

~ posted by laurie @ 7:53 am et |