Things are different since Sept. 11. They're the same, but they're different.
Everywhere you look, there are differences. Your 401(k) plan is worth about 15 percent less than it was two weeks ago. If you work for an airline or another tourism-based industry such as a casino, people you know may be getting laid off -- if you yourself haven't gotten a pink slip. The late night talk show hosts -- at least David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Craig Kilborn and Jon Stewart -- didn't do monologues last week. Instead, during their first night back on the air after the most defining day of their lives, they instead gave tear-filled and angry, yet hopeful (and, yes, occasionally rambling) speeches.
When the people who make us laugh for a living are crying, you know something horrific has happened.
For six days, Major League Baseball stopped. For a weekend, division I-A college football and the NFL took a break (at the risk of mutiny by players if league officials tried to get them to play). Preseason hockey games were scrapped. The greatest basketball player ever delayed yet another comeback.
And then there were the flags. Stores couldn't keep them in stock. The Stars and Stripes were everywhere -- on ribbons, on pins, clipped out of newspapers and taped to the back of vehicle windows. Songs we don't hear much anymore -- like "America, The Beautiful" and "God Bless America" -- were played more than N'Sync and Britney Spears combined.
But two weeks after some 6,500 people suddenly and horribly died, life is getting back to normal. The talk show hosts are telling jokes again, albeit carefully (Letterman's first Top 10 list since the attacks: "Top 10 words that almost rhyme with hat"). The sports leagues have resumed their schedules. MJ is about to make an announcement, and flags are returning to the shelves of some stores.
Things are different since Sept. 11. They're the same, but they're different.
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Then there's the question of what to make of all of this. What should we do now, as time passes since that group of misguided, evil men turned airplanes -- the ones we've all flown on -- into weapons of stunning destruction?
I am only 26 years old, and I don't know much, but one word comes to mind over and over again: FREEDOM.
What we all need to do is make sure that we defend freedom, at all costs. It's OK to tighten up airport security to assure that things like this never happen again -- stuff like that is a necessary hassle. But there are some people out there who would like to react to the devastation of Sept. 11 by curtailing freedoms beyond tightening restrictions.
You know the people I am talking about -- the idiots who think it's OK to lash out at Arab Americans because of what happened. There are some, including a man I have great respect for (even though I disagree with him on a number of political points), KKOH's Rusty Humphries, who think it's OK to send all students from Arab countries home. Again, is this freedom?
I'll also say that people like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson are a few notches below pond scum for blaming the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks on groups like the American Civil Liberties Union, pro-choice activists, homosexuals, feminists, etc., because these groups allegedly drove God away from protecting our country.
What a load of bullshit. But you know what? I'll defend the right of Falwell and Robertson to say such ridiculous, hateful crap to my grave. Freedom means the stupid can express themselves.
One of the most poignant things that I've heard regarding the aftermath of Sept. 11. It came from, of all the unlikely sources, comedian Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show."
During his first show back Sept. 20, he cried as he talked about how the view from his New York apartment used to be the World Trade Center's twin towers.
"But you know what the view is now?" he said, obviously choked up. "The Statue of Liberty."
Let Sept. 11 be a reminder to us all of what wonderful freedom we have. And don't let anyone ever take that away.
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On an administrative note, I want to explain what's been going on with my column during the last few weeks.
On Sept. 11, with all heck breaking loose, the Tribune accidentally re-ran one of my older columns instead of the one they were supposed to. The column originally scheduled for Sept. 11, about the Great Reno Balloon Race, ran last week. This week, we're back to normal.
Except that this column isn't one bit funny. That humor (or at least that attempt at humor), barring anything unforeseen, will return next week.
Jimmy Boegle is a fifth-generation Nevadan. His column appears here Tuesdays, and a column archive may be viewed at www.jimmyboegle.com.