9/11- 5 years later

i'm not really a super-sentimental kinda guy. just because i cry a lot (shut up!), doesn't mean that i'm sentimental like that.

but you know what, for some reason, 5 years later is a whole lot heavier than 1 year later. maybe it's because i feel a deeper sense of hopelessness knowing that we haven't really made much progress in this war against terror. maybe it's because of that cool montage that i heard this morning on KROQ (they said they'd post it ont heir page, but they haven't yet. i'll link it if they do). maybe it was checking out this site with all of the pictures and stories that they have.

no matter how you cut it or whatever political side you stand on regarding war in general or on this war, this is a dark day for all of us as americans. gone are the days of feeling safe. we're sitting on a ticking time bomb now and it's just a matter of time before the thing blows up. gone are the days of real freedom, they will slowly erode from here on out for our own protection. gone are the days of waving goodbye to our servicemen/women and sleeping ok at night because the war is "over there" and isn't going to sneak up on us in the night. a lot of times, i think i'm gonna wake up in the morning and san pedro is gone (shout out to matt and the other longshoremen - hope you aren't on duty when it happens homie).

on the flip side of that dark and dreary outlook is the fact that it uncovers stuff in us all. for me, even though i am against war, i still feel a sense of pride and of gratitude for our soldiers because i know that they only want what i want. they only want their kids to grow up playing in the backyard and going to church without fear. i know we all have a date with the worm, but i would hate to live looking over my shoulder.

for us young folk (ha ha - like i still fit into that category), this is our kennedy assasination. this is our man on the moon. this is our "day that will live in infamy". this is the day that we will remember forever. the sights, the smells, the emotions, and who's voice it was that woke us up to horror (howard stern, thanks dog). we'll remember who we were with, and what CD's we bought later that day (i bought the P.O.D. album that afternoon).

but most of all, i will never forget watching CNN all day long with my homies while all of our wives were at work. sorry sonia. :)