EXERCISE: What Does It Mean To Be An American?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Original Posting: Wed, 11 Sep 2002 21:49:37 -0400

8:26 AM, Sept. 11, 2001.

As the news services are pointing out, this is a time and date that marks something for us.

I reflect back on my life, and some similar points in time.  Probably out of order, I've never been good at order, and they may (or may not) be meaningful for you, but...

The death of Kennedy.
The landing on the moon.
The tearing down of the Berlin Wall.
The day my wife said "Yes" to marriage.
The Kobe earthquake.

There are probably others, too, but those will do for a time.

Well, let me add a few recent moments, when I saw a pair of old ladies hesitating at the bottom of the stairs outside the subway station (the "T") and asked if I could help.  They immediately smiled, and asked if I would help one up the stairs (the other took herself up).  So I lent my arm, and we made our way up.  The one I wasn't helping commented that she remembered as a Girl Scout helping old women, and it was hard to believe that now she was on the other side.

A few minutes delay in my homeward trip, but well worth the investment in time.  I have two beautiful smiles and soft "thank you"s in return.

I'm going to try to get to the international exchange luncheon today, and eat a mixture of foods, and talk to visiting students, let them know that this American still has a welcome for foreign visitors.

What do you show the world about being American?  Beyond the flag pin in the lapels of the newscasters, under the grit of day-to-day work, what do you want to do and say?

EXERCISE: perchance to dream?

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

original posting: Tue, 10 Sep 2002 21:45:39 -0400

a quick snippet from a dream last night (fading rapidly, so don't mind if the edges are bit blurry, okay?)

POV: at a drive-in movie (remember the old drive-in movies?), outside a station wagon, looking in.  There are a number of people in the station wagon, bound and gagged (tied up and gagged).  And the crowds, with popcorn and drinks, are just walking by.

For some reason, there's an impression that the people are a family.  There are kids and adults in the car.

I think in the dream I was banging on the windows, but that may be a fading wish-of-the-mists.  I'm definitely outside, not inside.

Anyway, there you have it.  Feel free to embroider, expand, contract, or otherwise modify, but put those people in the car, all tied up, and let us know what happens!

Or, of course, you may take a wisp from one of your dreams, and elucidate upon that.

But let your dreams out!

Write.