Celebrate 9-11

I propose 9-11 should be “National Travel Day” and as Americans who refuse to be afraid of the big bad wolf, we travel, go out to eat and spend money lavishly and in hedonistic ways.

Yes, I remember 9-11 well, the burning towers etc, I was working nights and woke up to my morning coffee and the internet news I couldn’t quite believe. Yes for several minutes I thought it was a hoax of some kind.As time went on over the next several weeks it actually got worse as people literally stopped living their lives, and adjusted everything to cowering in fear that some ridiculous imagined threat might materialize. A man I worked with who always talked about his church, cancelled his trip to Hawaii, he was afraid. He was in poor health and about 66 years old, apparently his savior was not powerful enough. People actually called the police if local kids played in the woods and wore camo clothing; they thought “terrorists had targeted their important neighborhood for implosion. People turned in neighbors who took photos outside it was completely nuts.

Things of course have cooled off some but we are nowhere near back to normal are we?

One of the moments I have been proudest of my mother is one week after 9-11 she had plane tickets to Montana. I asked if she was still going and she said of course, she was more worried about airlines cutting down on maintenance (very real), and drunken pilots than terrorists. Her reasoning was; why would the terrorists bother with a little old lady like her. Well, right on.
The terrorists attacked the World Trade Towers as a symbol, a symbol of American might, but also American values, freedom, morality, and happiness. They killed some people sure… but the total effect was a 1000 times worse because they did cause terror, and panic, they did change American life for the worse. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams because we rolled over, pissed our pants and let them.
So in all seriousness I think 9-11 should be made a holiday and it should be based on travel, and partying, and going out and not being afraid. People should go skydiving or take that hot air balloon trip, or do something new. It should be about breaking out of ruts, mental, physical and spiritual. Don’t tell me about your wonderful life-after-death god and show me your fish bumper sticker, show me your powerful faith by living a fearless, powerful life.

I know we have a lot of holidays but we have tweaked them haven’t we?
We used to celebrate Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthday and now we have the watered down “President’s Day” which means nothing. Columbus Day went the way of political correctness to a dried up death. MLK day is actually the only day the Seattle Times takes out a full page in the paper to remind us, hard to believe, good thing he is not still alive to disappoint us with being human. As near as I can tell Easter has waned and most stores are open now. Memorial Day and Labor Day are just days off from work. Fourth of July is only fireworks day. Thanksgiving and Christmas still retain pop because the weather is bad and hey we still do the family over for dinner right? Halloween is too scary because we can’t trust strangers any more, we are too afraid.

So why not ditch Labor Day and have a real holiday? We could call it American Values Day or something. I honestly think if we had a big holiday spectacular every year it would make Bin Laden’s butt burn. Instead of singing about the “home of the brave” why don’t we go out and live our lives like we always have and be brave or at least not afraid of living our lives like Americans used to live their lives.

Personally I think it would be like a Pearl Harbor Day that we really celebrate, it should be a three day national holiday and can replace Labor Day which has no meaning anymore. People should have resolutions to do something they want to do but have put off due to fear. Ask out that special person on a date you have been afraid to ask. Try out that risky blog idea. Go down to downtown Seattle and take some photo night shots you have been meaning to do, but inexplicably haven’t. Try something new like a play, or new ethnic restaurant you have never tried. If at all possible travel somewhere for no reason at all, other than you are happy to be alive and living in America on September 11, 2009!

So, join me in celebrating 9-11, Amercia is alive and kicking Day.

I can't afford to travel: and other myths

A former woman friend, used to say to her kids “you can do things or you can have things”. The motto being that as a more or less middle of the road earning American, we only have only so much money and resources to spend in this life and choices need to be made. The most precious thing is time and after that maybe money. Of course these things can be broken down further and you could say that time spent with loved ones is the most precious single thing on earth.
I frequently use the “death bed scenario” when discussing the myriad choices facing the eager young faces I run into. I ask them “hey, if you are lying on your death bed and are recounting your life and all the things you did and didn’t do; what will be important to you? Will it be the time you spent several hours haggling to buy the new Lexus and the drive home? Will it be the time you sat on top of the great pyramid in Egypt? The first time you made love to the love of your life? Will it be watching the Seahawks on your 56 inch television? Or hiking into Machu Piichu?

This is the juxtaposition of experiencing things and owning things. Buying expensive shiny gewgaws gives very little satisfaction once you actually have them in your hot little red hands, while memories of fantastic experiences keep giving and giving, paying interest, throughout your life. Some of these experiences can in fact be so profound they can literally change you and thus change the direction of the rest of your life. In this day and age of almost great-depression-like economic turmoil, many people I know are losing things they worked very hard for. They have had to declare bankruptcy, sell the “dream house” that is irreplaceable, get divorced (because they sold the “dream house”), lose all those things they were proud of and bragged about. Some people feel these things sadly defined who they were. Have you heard the bullshit about “you are what you drive”?
In that case I am a 1996 Chevrolet Lumina, white with dings and coffee stained carpet, almost 100,000 miles, non-descript, looking like an old rental car (because it is of course), reliable and forgettable. I prefer to think it has nothing to do with who I am it just gets me to work on time. However when I see people showing up in the morning in that brand new Lexus SUV and I look at them I think…it is too expensive for me, too much overtime, too much of my life’s blood. That car would cost too much of my very limited time on this earth. Henry David Theroux described it in his great book Walden as being “tools of our tools”. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=walden

A movie that I have heard many people quote lately is the “Bucket List”. Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman are old men confronted with their eminent and yes imminent, mortality. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0825232/ They decide to make a bucket list, all the things they want to do before they die. Notice it is things they want to do, not things they want to buy or things they want to own. It has touched a chord with many baby boomers as they grow older, and look in the mirror, discovering to their dismay the grey haired, turkey necked creature peering at them, is not them, but some old, world- weary person sneaking around in their house and wearing their clothes! The horror!

So other than the fear, http://425traveler.blogspot.com/2009/07/travel-fear.html the fake fear that has been manufactured and shoved down our 9-11 throats by the fear-mongering media, (and Republicans), it seems money is the main reason people give for not living out their travel dreams, of not scratching out items on that precious “bucket list” of childhood dreams. These are the dreams we had as children when we still dreamed really big dreams, before we got smart and our world shrank down really small with so many limitations. We tell ourselves that we will travel when we retire and we have earned it. We know in our hearts though when older we will be even more afraid, have less money, and failing health.
“Recent studies have suggested that merely thinking about money makes us more solitary and selfish, and steers us away from the spending that promises to make us happiest.” http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ideas/articles/2009/08/23/happiness_a_buyers_guide/?page=full

The time to plan that thing we have always wanted to do is right now, to research it and start to make the budget for it. If you have the big car payment ask yourself if that is really how you want to remember your life, as working overtime to pay car payments and buy things that you won’t remember even owning ten years down the road. It might be time to write a list of ten things you really, really want to do and then focus on the least expensive easiest one out of the ten. Could you plan that thing now? Could you actually do that particular thing, could you live that dream, next year? I think you will find if you start to make those concrete plans it will improve your mood to have something so wonderful to look forward to.