Oh, to remember

I admit it.  I’m getting sick of the retrospectives and commemoratives on TV.  You can’t swing a dead cat without hitting one of those.  All day on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, A&E, every network, all of the news broadcasts, and every newspaper in town (and out of town, yes, I know there’s only 1 authoritative news source in Houston).

Enough.

There’s remembering, then there’s obsessing.

Yes, the attacks on September 11, 2001 (the Manhattan Raids as the enemy would call them) were a big deal.  Yes, everything changed.  Some changes for the good and many long overdue.  Some for the bad and forces are still working to correct those errors.

But I won’t be participating in even a moment of silence.  I won’t be interrupting my life to mourn the dead.

Personally, I believe that to be an insult to the dead, and if the dead insist on me stopping my life to mourn them I consider that an insult to the living.

The best way to commemorate the people who were cut down by the enemy is to live—live in the face of terror and flaunt your fearlessness.  I will eat a hamburger, with cheese, with bacon, and fries today.  I will drink a Coca-Cola.  I will watch The Simpsons that I taped yesterday.  I will go to the observation deck of the tallest tower in Houston and not be afraid.  I will do what I do, and there’s not a damn thing any terrorist can do that will stop me from doing that.

Fuck you, Osama.  I’m going to live.  If you don’t like it, come over here and stop me.

Don’t forget.  Never forget.  But work to a better tomorrow.  Live life and share that, even at the business end of a gun, bomb, or plane.  If they’ll hate while in the cross hairs, then you love while in the cross hairs.

That’s how we win.

 

And speaking of doing what I do, the Astros as still hanging on by a thread in the wild card race.

There’s a big 3 game series with the Cardinals coming up.  That’ll put this season mercifully out of its misery and let us all get on with our lives so we can stop fooling ourselves that this is a playoff team.  It’s not.  They’re not exactly bad, but they’re streaky and erratic.  Oh yea, they’re under .500, and they’ll probably end the season under .500.  I guess by most definitions that’s pretty bad.  Sure glad we got Roger back for half of a season.  Too bad he can’t hit.

My remedy for next season:  dump everyone who hit under .250.  “But that’s 5 of their 8 hitters.”  Yup.  So?  Dump ‘em.  Bring up some rookies.  Pick up some bats.