This year we must endure, in quick succession, the first anniversary of hurricane Katrina, and the fifth of 9/11. I am so glad I’m not in the US to be bombarded by the news coverage, though I can catch enough of the spatter from anywhere in the world.
The politicians who rush to capitalize, claiming they did do or will do or are doing the right thing, and the other guys the wrong thing. The media who, with dreary predictability, actually give airtime to this political drivel, padded out with plenty of their own drivel about “what lessons have we learned?” “how has the world changed?” etc. (Their bathroom conversation is preferable.)
If we haven’t learned our lessons already (and we haven’t), there’s no use in piously trotting out the same old clichés on every anniversary, to sustain the illusion that we have.
So here’s my suggestion for commemoration: shut up and THINK. Then do. Just don’t talk about it.
