Being a product of a Mid-west, middle-class upbringing and way of life, much of my political interest and activism has been very middle of the road. My thoughts and my existence have been primarily focused on the concerns and thoughts of many my age: how to do what I want to do and go where I want to go in this life? I'm a pop-culture conscious, well-educated, technologically savvy, rock concert attending, Gap wearing, media satiated, Japanese-made automobile driving, and conspicuous income wielding individual. I'm used to a good economy and the sun shining more days than it doesn't. I'm used to my hometown sports teams winning. I have my own apartment, have a savings account, and casually follow the stock market. I'm fashionable by most standards and like to eat out a lot. I read the newspaper most days but catch the evening news only occasionally. I've looked at the armed forces with skepticism and even disdain (and the police, for that matter). I've never seriously entertained the idea of actually fighting for my country. I'm moderately conscious of what is going on in the rest of the world but usually from a very aloof perspective. I've never owned or displayed an American flag and haven't voted in the last couple of elections, more out of laziness and indifference than anything else.

That all changed on September 11, 2001.

Sadness. Hatred. Rage. Fear. Shame. Guilt. Hopelessness. Ignorance. A New Consciousness. These are some of the feelings and thoughts that raced through me and possessed me from time to time on that fateful day. As a member of an American generation that has known unparalleled comfort and relative ease and quality of life, I felt a fear, anger, and pain that only the generations that have gone before us can identify with. Us? The United States of America? The most powerful, wealthiest, and influential country in the world? They did that to us? Unbelievable! It was dumbfounding. Astonishing. It was the introduction of a new reality.

Much is happening at this very moment and much more is still to come. It is obvious that our country is at a crossroads and that the decisions we will make are serious, influential, and profoundly significant. I do not know what those decisions should be; however, I would urge everyone to remember what this country has given you. What this country is to you. What this country allows you to do, be, or enjoy. Those of you are making six figures, driving European cars, and vacationing in the Caribbean, remember that it is because you live in this land that you can do such things. Those of you who are skeptical or even disdainful of capitalism, big business, American domestic or foreign policy, the military, or our political leaders, remember that it is because you live in this land that you can express such things. And those of you who are struggling to be musicians, actors, painters, filmmakers, writers, thinkers, entrepreneurs, or investors, well, you get the drift?

As it happens, I got laid off from my fairly lucrative high tech job on September 11, 2001. I didn't even bother going in that morning, what with the world falling apart before my eyes, and was later phoned by a colleague and told the news. I laughed. I felt more indifferent to the loss of my job than I could have ever imagined feeling. 'Who cares?,' I thought to myself. The difficulties I will face in finding comparable employment in a downward economy are nothing compared to the pain, suffering, and hardship of those who are experiencing a loss of a loved one at this very moment. This is nothing, nothing!, compared to what the folks in New York and Washington D.C. are going through now. This is nothing compared to what my father's father's generation went though in World War 2. In fact, this is nothing compared to the millions and millions of sufferers in other lands, who live paycheck to paycheck, without medical care and education and Social Security, who are subjects t! ! o be ruled over, who don't have a political or social voice nor even the opportunity to dissent from their leaders policies, what those people are going through. Those who cannot move at will. Who cannot practice a different religion. Who cannot express their mind freely. All these thoughts flashed through my mind in mere seconds and I realized how much this country has given me. How much I have been blessed, how much I have been given (through no act of my own), by the simple fact that I live in this country, and the simple fact that I am the recipient of the sacrifices made by generations that have gone before me. I realized that I have been living off the fat of the land without considering where those good things really come from. The blood, sweat, and tears that have been spilt in tragic plenitude for me to do what I'm doing now: living, breathing, eating, drinking, moving, thinking, loving, learning, and finding my way in the place that I live: Boulder, Colorad o, United ! ! States of America.

My peace and prayers to you all.