better than normal
Sep. 17th, 2001 01:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
katsterFrom the church program this morning:
"In times of crisis, we tend to huddle together sorting out our thoughts and feelings, trying to make enough sense of what's happening that we can get back to normal. But as we keep hearing those words, 'back to normal,' a thought jumps out: But what if we don't want to get back to normal...but want to go on to something different...better?"
The road splits here. We can sink back into factions, hating others for being different, hating those for what they believe, what they think, what they look like. Or we can use this moment to come together as a people, to be different but equal, to be strong. So far, it looks like it's gonna be business as usual.
I have a friend who is married to a Syrian. They're a happy couple and he's a really nice guy, but I'm worried stiff about the two of 'em. I haven't heard from them in ages, and I'm scared to death somebody's gonna do something stupid to my friend's husband, and thus, by extension, my friend. This is an America in which the new normal will be worse. This is the America in which the terrorists won.
So. We can't go back to normal, the world's been skewed bad since September 11, 2001. Which is it gonna be, better than normal or worse than normal? I'm working for better, what about you?
[And Eileen, if you're out there, and you happen by chance to be reading this, email me back?]
"In times of crisis, we tend to huddle together sorting out our thoughts and feelings, trying to make enough sense of what's happening that we can get back to normal. But as we keep hearing those words, 'back to normal,' a thought jumps out: But what if we don't want to get back to normal...but want to go on to something different...better?"
The road splits here. We can sink back into factions, hating others for being different, hating those for what they believe, what they think, what they look like. Or we can use this moment to come together as a people, to be different but equal, to be strong. So far, it looks like it's gonna be business as usual.
I have a friend who is married to a Syrian. They're a happy couple and he's a really nice guy, but I'm worried stiff about the two of 'em. I haven't heard from them in ages, and I'm scared to death somebody's gonna do something stupid to my friend's husband, and thus, by extension, my friend. This is an America in which the new normal will be worse. This is the America in which the terrorists won.
So. We can't go back to normal, the world's been skewed bad since September 11, 2001. Which is it gonna be, better than normal or worse than normal? I'm working for better, what about you?
[And Eileen, if you're out there, and you happen by chance to be reading this, email me back?]
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}