Normal?

I had hoped to return to a normal article on another “classic” this week. As our officials have all encouraged us to return to our normal lives, I have to ask what is normal anymore? If I don’t know, and no one can tell me, how are we supposed to be able to get back to it?

I had a very long week, where at times I found myself trying not to cry or talk about the situation, again. I began to lose sleep, because of nightmares of burning planes and falling buildings I always seemed to be trapped in. I began to get edgy, and then crabby, and by the time Friday rolled around I was so thankful to have a couple of days off.

Meanwhile, it seemed most of the world was getting back to normal activities. My homework piled up as it would any other week. I was expected at work like any other week. Groceries, doctor appointments, all still demanding attention. And yet only 2 weeks ago our nation suffered the worst attack of terrorism ever brought on us. An event that was anything but normal.

It is now Sunday evening. I have spent my weekend trying to catch up on homework I didn’t have the mind power to do earlier in the week. In between studying, my family and I have been grocery shopping. But not like we normally would. This time we bought foods that would sustain us in case something happened here. Something unexpected, something abnormal. To some this is fear and paranoia speaking. As a Southern Californian, it is not a far stretch. Having grown up in the heart of earthquake country, we are all used to preparing for days without food, water and electricity. To my family, this is preparedness. Something I’ve been shocked into realizing very few of us think about on a daily basis. If we don’t think about it now, about those sudden misfortunes that can befall us, then when will we? I would rather sound a little paranoid then be unprepared. Then, if I am wrong, and that would be a wonderful thing, then I have a wealth of food and supplies on hand and how can that hurt anything?

I cannot begin to conceive of how we will define “normal” in this new, post September 11th world. At the very least, our daily activities might be effected. At the most, our very psyches will be traumatized. We have seen the airline industry crippled, not because of the loss of four aircraft, but what happened TO them, and our overwhelming fear that it MIGHT happen again. We have

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