Who Can Forget Harriet

People remember where they were the morning of 9/11, some people remember where they were the day Kennedy was shot. I remember Oct 3rd.

I was pacing back and forth in my house, groggy-eyed, sipping coffee, waking-up from a late night, and I turned on the tube because I knew there was going to be an announcement. I don't remember the time. Reading the big hand and the little hand so very eary in the morning was as yet beyond my achieved mental capacity. I was still sort of aiming at finding my feet. Once I've found my feet, and recognize them as, indeed, my feet, then I know my day has started.

I heard the announcement.

Now, I'm uncertain which is faster, a split second or an instant, but somewhere within one or the other of those two designations I felt rage, and I did indecent things toward the TV.

I later found out I was an elitist and cynical. I'm a carpenter. The men who make the charge of cynicism and elitism against those who have experienced rage, are foolish.

Rage: instinctive, immediate, pure. Rage is in response to violation. The violation is two fold: A broken promise by a man trusted; and a missed opportunity in a matter of immense importance to a beloved nation.

In addressing this rage these are the only two factors to be considered. Men who do not address these two factors are foolish men.

And 9/11? That led to the most severe reassessment of American foreign policy I've ever under gone. Oct 3rd? This is leading to reassessment as well. Oct 3rd...? Oct 3rd does not have the resonance of "9/11". Lets simply call it "Harriet".