DAY SIXTY-FOUR:Nov. 13:
Kabul has fallen to the Northern Alliance; the Taliban forces are reportedly scattered and demoralized. Now the rival factions of the Northern Alliance can whet their appetites for the civil war to come by brutally slaying their Taliban opponents. Or so reports the New York Times today.New Yorkers are numb. Yesterday's plane crash has left them unable to feel anymore. Remarkably little conversation centers on the tragic events around us. Instead we speak of the drought, or Thanksgiving holidays. We talk about flu shots and what kind of a mayor Michael Bloomberg is going to make.
Or we talk about bioterrorism. No doubt tonight's NOVA special on PBS will spark an even more lively national conversation about bioterrorism tomorrow.
Today the State Department commenced opening three weeks worth of mail - literally tons of letters and packages that have gone unopened in Washington and at consulates and embassies the world over since October 24, when a mail sorter working in the Department's primary postal facility contracted inhalational anthrax. Since then three large mail sorting machines at the facility have tested positive for anthrax spores. Today the three-week-old heap of mail was irradiated, and workers clad in gloves and masks set to opening and sorting millions of items. The CDC believes that somewhere in that mountain of mail is a smoking gun: A leaky envelope full of spores sent by the nefarious perpetrator.
Meanwhile, the holidays are approaching. Manhattan is usually bursting with decorations by now, intended to lure shoppers. But the only radically festive décor I have spotted so far this year is surrounding the entry of Radio City Music Hall, where the Rockettes are kicking their legs for Santa, as they have every year for decades. The Mayor, the President and the Governor keep telling New Yorkers to go back to business as usual, shop, spend, be happy, but all evidence is indicating that Gotham's citizenry find the mantra unpalatable.
I have wondered whether New Yorkers will even celebrate Christmas and New Years this year. I started asking around, and found most folks feeling that they either plan to leave the city for the holidays, or want intimacy, warmth, and family. It seems the city is in a hunker down mood. My British friend, John, finds the New York reaction a bit too much. He says:
".........my attitude is that "normalcy is everything". Life is for the living, not for the scared. So I suggest you do what you normally do, if that brings you pleasure.
I must say I am getting fed up of people's panic reactions. I stand to lose a top-class tech, mostly because his wife is freaked out by New York. And someone I had lined up as a replacement tells me that HIS wife doesn't want him to work in Manhattan It's ridiculous. I guarantee you I have never ever felt unsafe here - shit can happen anywhere.
Perhaps. But for the moment it is happening HERE.
Be well. Stay safe. Stand defiant.
Laurie Garrett
