[LEMONS] 10.09.2001
So here's a confession. When I was flying from Mississippi to Houston the week after the attacks, I was sitting in the emergency exit row next to a guy who was obviously from the Middle East. I smiled at him as I sat down, and he nodded and smiled back at me. He was well-dressed, looked like a student, and did nothing whatsoever to deserve setting off alarm bells in my head... but they were going off nonetheless, no matter how I tried to tell myself that I was being irrational. That I was being bigoted. Which is why I found a little comfort in Doonesbury today. I knew what I was experiencing was wrong and illogical. But it was there. And if that's what I'm thinking, what's happening in others' minds? The minds of people like the ones who, when asking my wife how her flight from OAkland to Nashville was, inquired if there were any "r*gheads" on board... I've lived in the Mideast twice in my life. I consider myself pretty enlightened. But it's still hard not to be afraid. Ahhhh for the wisdom of puppets.
- l i n k -
