united we stand: today, i went out for a walk during lunch. when i hit 5th avenue, yes, i couldn't help but look down -- looking down the straightaway where i used to look up to see the world trade center. now i can see the rubble, i can see what we are all seeing on television, the skeletal shell of what was once a trade tower, which one it's now impossible to tell.

my eyes returned to my surroundings, and there were flags on buildings, flags on car antennas, flags in storefronts. gentlemen who'd normally be selling umbrellas in a rain storm were now selling flags (their wet dream: a FLAG UMBRELLA, mmmmm.) sometimes, there are slogans that go with those flags: "God bless america," is quite popular, as is "united we stand."

i was going to burger king: when one leaves the office, they can go north or south, and which ever way they go, they'll eventually reach burger king. today, having had enough of the burger king on 23rd st. and their, what they have the unmitigated gall to call "service," i turned uptown. immersed in the red, white & blue, i couldn't help but notice the stark contrast between the two routes: from 24th to 26th st. on park ave. south, the buildings are plastered with flyers featuring pictures of the missing and tokens of grieving and mourning. it was a heartwrenching scene to think that, and i hate to be pessimistic, all of these people are likely dead. hope can be easily seen within each pixel, each letter, and between every line and it was just unbearable. i could only imagine the scene grew more desperate and more tragic the closer one got to ground zero...

...and meanwhile, back on 30th street, i'm looking at a window with a crude reproduction of the twin towers, over which the slogan "united we stand" is boldly emblazoned. i'm thinking, why do i find this so vulgar? if it was the image of a dead human with a similar proclamation of strength, i wouldn't be bothered (say, martin luther king, jr. with the phrase, "you can kill the man, but not his dream.") the "united we stand" poster seems to be asserting, "ha ha ha, you may destroy our building, but we can always rebuild it. you can't beat US (or, even, the U.S.)" meanwhile, it seems to forget that, like mlk jr., the people who were killed in the building can never be rebuilt, will never return. it's exactly the kind of jingoism seen in e-mail chain letters like, "wear red, white & blue today!" on the national day of mourning, akin to wearing your easter bonnet with all the frills upon it to good friday mass. it's seen in the attitudes of people whose lives were largely unaffected by the tragedy and their desire to rain terror on all of those a-rabs.

if this were a short story, i'd conclude it by saying i turned around right then and there and headed in the opposite direction, back towards ground zero where people know the ethics of grief. but i didn't, and even if it were fictional, it still wouldn't ring true. i shook my head...well, no, i didn't even shake my head. i just kept on towards my destination: if i'm not going to let the terrorists rob me of my sense of normalcy, i'm not going to let those with a surfeit of patriotism do it either. now give me a whopper meal plain to go.