A Moment of Reflection

I wasn't intending to post on the topic of 9/11 today; there are retrospectives enough. But I got inadvertently hooked on the first portion of the mini-series "The Path to 9/11" on ABC last night. I was already involved in watching the Manning brothers play football against each other, and had every intention of witnessing the final play. There had been some hoopla about this mini-series, and so I flipped the channel for a moment to get a sense of what the hoopla might be about, and that was the end of the Manning duel for me.

The Blame Game holds no appeal for me; plenty of folks of all political persuasion were asleep at the switch on September 10, and there were also some aware souls that found it impossible to move the behemoth of bureaucracy quickly enough to change the outcome. The reason I was riveted to the program is that it reminded me of some things that I already know, educated me on some things that I did not, and actually put the pieces of the puzzle together in a coherent way. I was so impressed that I tried (unsucessfully, so far) to purchase a DVD of the program last night; I'd like to be sure my kids see it and understand some of the history of that era.

My conviction to vote was also deepened. The nasty side of politics is so distasteful; it is nothing new, as anyone who has read any biographies of our founders is well aware. It does have a tendency to make folks shy away from the process, though. I always urge people to vote, even if they disagree with my choices. It seems imperative to do so now, on the fifth anniversary of a tragedy that affected all of civilization, really.

And I suppose that I will miss the middle section of the Monday Night Football opening double-header tonight; part 2 of ABC's docudrama airs at 7 pm.