The events today in London have shaken me up. On the one hand, it’s very surreal: here in the office there isn’t a lot of concern for it. I don’t think anyone has mentioned it to me at all. But I have a lot of friends (internet and otherwise) who are incredibly concerned, and are focused on the news. The discrepency really throws me. Yesterday I was thinking about the olympics bid, and how worthy london was to have won because they really really wanted it, they were really really excited. If NYC had won there wouldn’t be the excitement, joy, unity. There would be people upset about the inconvenience, and general apathy. And now that London has suffered terrible terrorist bombings I am concerned about our reaction. We didn’t offer much of a reaction to Madrid in their time of awful either. So while I’m worrying about London, I’m also worrying about America.
And God, but I remember the terrible waiting period after September 11th in New York City, when we weren’t sure if there was another shoe to drop and if it would. I remember waiting to find out who, of those I know, were spared, and the slow scramble to locate my tourist step-sister. I remember the loud silence in the streets as people wondered what to do with themselves, how they could get home, and later, how they could help. And for all of the horrors that NYC experienced that day, we didn’t have the mass injuries and amputations to deal with and to remind us of what happened. My heart goes out to those who are waiting and coping in London.
