How has it changed?

On this day, 5 years ago, I was on my days off from DM Fish when I decided to kidnap my sister and drive up Hwy 395 to visit the parents at a "Pack Station" in the Eastern Sierras. We spent the day of the 10th driving and woke up at 6:00am to pack up the mules and horses and ride out into the middle of nowhere for the day. We all rode through the changing leaves and next to the mountain lake that was so clear it looked like glass in blissful ignorance of what was going on on the other side of the country. It was so peaceful. Such a contrary vision to what the rest of the world was experiencing. I remember the shock I felt when I finally saw what everyone else had been watching for days. I felt like I had been in a bubble for 10 years. The names of the people on the planes were spooling across the bottom of the screen, there was no sound, only images of the smoking towers and finally the collapse, over and over and over. I burst into tears at the thought of what those jumpers must have had to consider in order to do what they chose. My heart goes out to the families of the people who lost someone on this day. I want to say that we will never forget, but future generations probably will. Our grandchildren will read about this day in history books and wonder how it got to this point.

Honestly, I don't feel that much different today than I did that day as I waded through the pristine icy cold lake in the mountains. Sure, it takes a little longer to get through security at the airport, but has this really affected me? I hate to say it, but no. The patriotism that followed was great, but where has it gotten us? In the middle of a big sinkhole in the middle east with our friends slowly but surely turning to look the other way. We're fucked, plain and simple. Sorry grandkids.