"John D. Giorgis" wrote:
>
> At 01:57 PM 9/20/2002 -0700 Deborah Harrell wrote:
> >--- "John D. Giorgis" wrote:
> ><big snip>
> >> Imagine that - being scared to live in your nation's
> >> capital because you
> >> think that there is a real risk that a nuclear or
> >> biological weapon will go
> >> off there. Welcome to America post 9/11/01.
> >
> >
> >I'm going to have to disagree here: to change the
> >fundamental way in which we live and work, and view
> >'the outside world,' is to be defeated by those
> >terrorists. I realize that if I had children I would
> >probably feel more cautious, but I'm not going to let
> >a bunch of madmen dictate the way I live.
>
> Well, I haven't exactly been dictated to. I, after all, ignored the
> advice of my parents and decided to continue serving my country.
>
> I've sometimes wondered if maybe there isn't a different perspective living
> here in Washington (a perspective I would expect New York, and maybe San
> Francisco or LA or Norfolk to share). I remember an awkward moment in the
> days leading up to 9/11/02 with some co-workers where we all sort of
> thought about the possibility of a true WMD strike against Washington on
> that day, but none of us actually said anything about it.
Some days I get nervous about my sister living in DC (and she lives in
the District, not just near it in Maryland or Virginia). I find myself
hoping that if a WMD strike is executed that its radius of destruction
is relatively small, as the chances of my sister's neighborhood being
targeted are remote. (I think the same goes for the part of the city
she works in, as well.) I also find myself hoping that it's not
biological in nature.
I also think about various people I've met there, and hoping that
nothing happens to them. Tom, the Congressional aide who couldn't be
phased by anything my sister's ex-boyfriend and I could come up with
when we were drunk. (We'd managed to freak out a couple of other people
at the table, and then started working on Tom. No dice. Oh, and Tom
hadn't heard the term "Congresscritter" before I used it in inquiring
for whom he was working, and he thought it was a hoot.) Cathy, who is a
doctor at a privately-funded health clinic for the poor. People whose
names I can't remember, who just happen to live and work in the nation's
capital, most of whom have no direct connection to the government. (Tom
is the notable exception. And he was notable.)
Anyway, I worry sometimes. So far, the worst that's happened to anyone
I've met has had to do with the crackhouse next door and not terrorism.
Julia
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