Leavenworth. A long time ago.
Google Calendar reminds me via email that I have no events scheduled for today. That has been its refrain for months and months now. I suppose I should deactivate it because, even if I did have something scheduled for today, I would probably ignore the notification.
Yesterday evening Christmas Town, USA, underwent a ‘bomb scare’.
To my knowledge, we have no information, as of this writing, about why someone would elect to do such a thing in a tiny mountain town of a few thousand souls that is completely dependent on tourism.
But I can speculate.
We have a lot of disgruntled people living amongst the gruntled. And they are not gruntled for a whole slew of reasons.
The cost of living, housing and feeding your family continues to creep upward - along with the number of visitors. Traffic, parking and new parking fees are the common denominators of vitriol and exasperation for those who go to social media to commentate. With a limited number of egresses and accesses there are bound to be bottlenecks. With the growing popularity of the town itself due to the close-at-hand amenities and a slate of outdoor activities there are bound to be tensions. With an infusion of urban sensibilities mixing with small town America’s proclivities there are bound to be misunderstandings and selective hearing and disagreements.
It was only a few days ago Nashville, Tennessee, was rocked by an explosion in its downtown corridor by a domestic terrorist.
Make no mistake. These are acts of domestic terrorism.
Whether you kill someone or not. Whether the bomb explodes or not. Whether there is a bomb or not. No matter what the intention may be. Experts can quibble about the technical reasons to call something terrorism or not but, in my book, if you are sowing terror, you are a terrorist.
A disgruntled American who threatens public space with mass violence is a domestic terrorist. Even if we later find out it was a joke, or a prank or a drunken call to 911 from some sullen pimply faced kid. A bomb threat is an act of terrorism. It is meant to terrorize.
None of us want to live in a place where we have to wonder where and when a bomb might go off.
I remember a conversation with a friend who once lived in Israel during the time when tensions ran especially high and he talked of how prior to making reservations at a restaurant he and his friends would spend half an hour discussing the probability of a suicide bombing or a car bombing at specific locations and sectors of the city. It was a reality they had to consider.
It was a reality I could not fathom, and did not want to fathom.
I think it is quite enough that I never sit with my back to the main door of a restaurant because I want to have the maximum amount of visibility and forewarning of an incoming shooter. Ever since a fast food franchise outside a military base in Texas was shot up in the 1970s, I’ve made an effort to sit with my eyes on the front door and my senses attuned to the comings and goings of customers.
I guess I can chalk that up to one of those ‘small terrors’ Americans choose to live with because they refuse to circumscribe and enforce measures to make incidents like that as unlikely as possible.
America’s most popular Christmas Town is suffering growing pains which now includes a bomb threat that cleared downtown during the Christmas holidays. The most popular time of the year. What was once a town built on logging is now a town built on selling its beauty, its mystique and its proximity to adventure. A bomb threat is the antithesis to all of that.
We were fortunate this time. No bomb detonated. No bomb was found. Even so, a little bit of terror was planted in the backs of our minds. Will the threat even be announced next time?
As we inch our way toward a new administration, a new year and a new decade this was a stark reminder that the ill-will sowed, nursed and set loose across the country by the most unscrupulous administration in living memory will not fade away with the dawning of the new age. The ill-will predated the old administration but there can be no argument it was given new life and a national stage by the leading figures of this government.
On the positive side, the ill-will is somewhat counterbalanced by a newfound enthusiasm for activism and a desire for change. Dozens of seemingly intractable problems - local, regional and national - demand attention and, under the right political conditions, they might get acted on.
The birthing process for significant changes throughout our history were painful and often met with fierce resistance but a majority of Americans cannot imagine their lives now without those changes having been made. It’s true that we’ve been backsliding since the reign of Reagan but I sense a change coming.
The resistance to change is as predictable as the rising sun but that resistance should not manifest itself as a bomb threat. Or a terrorist threat of any kind. Not in the land of conspicuous consumption and wanton avarice.
If I am to believe Yuval Noah Harari or the other author I read earlier this year, indeed cooperation and our social structure is what vaulted Homo Sapiens to the top of the food chain. Even to outlast the other species of hominids.
Many of us are disgruntled about something. But, for the most part, we are ‘first world’ disgruntled. We have options, if we choose to use them. And one of those is that, even though we are all part of the problem, we can elect to be part of the solution.
Not calling in a bomb threat would be a start for someone out there.
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Growing up and into college, I loved radio shows. They were actually from another era like The Shadow but I glommed onto them anyway. There was something very evocative about those shows and I really loved listening to them late at night as I drove across country.
Well, if you liked those old shows, you might enjoy the Motherhacker podcast from Gimlet Productions.
Also, AAR Pauline Kao sent this humorous, well-written article which will lighten your day after my Scroogey screed about the inexplicable shortage of bucatini pasta. Is Big Pasta to blame?
