Problems and Priorities

That last post was, obvs, made in a bad place. My anxiety was to say the least off the charts. But now I'm doing okayish, don't feel suffocated with dread, etc. One thing that helps: the national mood! If you look at polls, people still think the country is headed in the wrong direction, and in a way they're right. When it comes to a nation's direction, it's like a huge ship or something. You can't stop all of a sudden and you can't turn on a dime. It'll take years before we can really bring the wrong direction we're heading in to a complete halt and get turned around and moving in the right direction. But it's striking the other polling numbers that are coming out right about now in regards to the national mood, the inauguration, and whatnot. Pollingreport.com is a good site to have a look at a number of polls in one place. I was especially struck by polls of what people think is the biggest national problem--the economy just dwarfs all the other issues. The reason for that is obvious and all, but to see the way that Iraq and terrorism is a complete afterthought in relationship to the economy is striking. I've also really been uber-sincerely pumped by that plane landing in the Hudson River. It's the type of story you never see, where there are real heroes (as opposed to the bastardized overuse of the word this decade) and what should have been a disaster being completely averted. It really is a beautiful accidental metaphor for the place the country is in right now, hopefully. If they give the Captain, Sully Sullenberg a ticker tape parade, then I will forever take credit for that fact--I was posting all over facebook and blogs that we should give the fellow a ticker tape parade down NY's Canyon of Heroes. And if it happens and I take credit I'll only be a little deluded. I really was the first person to publically call for it--some columnist for the New York Daily News mentioned it in an article put up at like 3:00am the next day, but I was in there like eight hours before. The internet is an incredible thing.

Problems and Priorities