Entered on 2001-09-13 at 7:05 a.m..
And our flag was still there...
I read a pretty neat political cartoon this morning. It was a rather simple picture of a tattered American flag, below it in very small lettering was the line from the National Anthem, "and our flag was still there."
Yes America is facing this strange situation where over 90% of the country is physically untouched by the devistation facing New York and Washington DC, but is emotionally scared. The American Red Cross has never seen so many people want to donate blood. The lines have been averaging 3-4 hours. In fact today Red Cross stations are full and turning people away; asking them to come back next week.
The girm reality is however that there just aren't enough people being pulled from the rubble.
Life is continuing, however. People are starting to go back to work, to school. There isn't much else to do. The country is seething. To answer your question Becca the country is on the brink of war. We have only one problem; we have no obvious enemy. The FBI is working faster than I've ever seen them, and with what I can only assume is ruthless efficiency. It is only a matter of time until they finger someone (or a group of someones) and then, as the saying goes, heaven help them. NATO has invoked Article 5, which roughly says you attack one of us, you've attacked us all.
Just as an aside, I did want to mention that there were indeed hero's aboard the flight from Newark. Shortly after the plane was hijacked, a man named Jeremy Giles called his family. He told them that he had been hijacked, and learned in return what had just happend with the other planes. He told his family to hold on, and then came back to tell them that they [his fellow passengers and himself] had just taken a vote, and that they were going to try to over take the hijackers. A few minutes later the plane crashed as it was headed back to Washington..
It makes me seriously wonder what I would have done in that situation. Jeremy Giles had a 3 month old daughter at home.