I was lounging by a mountain lake last week with two friends, our ten kids, and at least 50 other vacationing families when I was jolted back into reality by the news that the world is still a scary place to live. Not that it was ever really safe. Throughout our planet's entire history, someone it seems, has always been out to get someone else - usually someone different from themselves.
It's just that this time, it's Americans and our buddies, the Brits, and any other allies, who are the targets.
But on that sunny, lazy afternoon by the lake, when I heard that a plot to blow up at least 10 US-bound passenger jets had been thwarted, I felt isolated from the danger.
Granted, chances are slim to none that any terrorist is going to strike a rustic resort town in California's Gold Country. But when 9/11 happened and I was in my house in the city's Sunset District, I felt so violated and vulnerable that I hesitated taking my then 4-year old son to preschool that day.
And that got me to thinking. Is it that I actually felt insulated from danger because I perceived myself and my kids to be safe in a rural area? Or was it because in the five years since 9/11 I've come to accept the fact that this is the world we live in, and I've unconsciously chosen NOT to live my life, or raise my family, in a constant state of anxiety?
Although I'm sure being on vacation played a role in my reaction, I think the latter explanation is closer to the truth. An article in the Chicago Tribune last week explored this theory, and found that although Americans were unsettled by the news, they were far from shocked. "There's always the idea it could happen again," Tom Goodman, a PR executive is quoted as saying. "This is the world we live in and it's going to be like this for a long, long time."
In this week's issue of Newsweek, columnist Anna Quinlan broaches this same subject (although her take is New York-centric), and comes to the conclusion that "the great shock to the American system is realizing that no fortress is inviolate, no wall tall enough and no place really safe."
Terrorism and how safe Americans feel, is going to be Topic Number One for the next few weeks, as the MSM (mainstream media) pounds us with September 11th anniversary coverage. And somewhere in all that rabble, there will be some interesting information. Look for the annual survey to be released soon (here's 2005's) on "Where the American Public Stands on Terrorism and Preparedness" from the National Center for Disaster Preparedness.
Like last year's survey, it will likely tell us that we have declining faith that the government will protect us from disaster - natural or man-made. And that despite the increased calls for us to prepare by making our own family emergency plans and familiarizing ourselves with our community emergency plans, fewer than a quarter of us have done so.
These statistics may be a little less alarming here in earthquake country, where preparedness is part of life. For those of us living on the fault line(s) in the Bay Area, unexpected disaster could potentially strike at any moment (read my take on quake anxiety in "Waiting for Disaster" on iTalkNews). But I really don't know anyone who worries about it on a daily basis.
Maybe Americans are starting to adopt the same attitude about terrorism. Is that a sad statement about the world we live in today? Maybe. But it's a fact of life.
"No one can run when it finally comes down.
Nobody knows what is stirrin’ underground
Livin' on the fault line."