[sola gracia]

Ah yes, the ordinary bump.

[boris]

This has bothered me for a while. Thank you for the posting; it has clarified my thinking on the matter.

One thing keeps popping up in my mind: the holidays.

How absurd--how shallow it seems somehow, to be planning Thanksgiving, parties, turkey and pies, gathering with friends. Surreal somehow.

And then Christmas, Hannukah, and New Years.

Ordinarily my very favorite time of year--even though I am caught in S. Calif and it is impossible to have a proper "Christmas/Hannukah" without cold weather and snow.

Now I don't know. We go through the motions. Somehow playing "pretend". Presents. Excited kids. More parties.

And somewhere, American kids are putting their lives on the line--and losing them. And there are 6,000 ghosts at the party. And there is Anthrax, possibly mixed in with your holiday card from Aunt Priscilla.

Strange Days.

--Boris

[Fulbright]

The al-Qaeda manual says give them 3-4 months of quiet, then hit them again.

[sheltonmac]

My own fear is not of abating rage but of the seduction of what C.S.Lewis calls in The Screwtape Letters "the ordinary." Here is the Evil One's stealth weapon, preferred even to the flashier "deadly sins."

Spot on.