Saturday, July 16, 2005
What a difference a week makes
Back in April, I added to the blog this parody of the Homeland Security terror alert flag. It used a Sesame Street character to represent each of the five alert levels: Elmo was red, Ernie was orange, Bert was yellow, Cookie Monster was blue and Oscar was green. It was an interesting mix of the innocent and childlike with the violent and frightful, and added a bit of color to the blog. For a while it was funny, but eventually it got old because we seemed to get stuck on yellow and I was getting tired of seeing Bert every day. It wasn't like the weather update that was new and different each time I checked it.
Last Monday while fixing my blog layout and and cleaning up a few obsolete links, I decided to drop the terror alert flags. Two days later, terrorists attacked London in coordinated bombings that have thus far killed 55 people and wounded over 700, and brought back the fear and uncertainty that followed the 9/11 attack on New York City. Once again, it shattered the normalcy that had started to return after nearly four years. Airport checks still reminded of threats to security, but in our daily lives, the risks were no longer front and center issues. After the London attack, the alert level was raised to Orange for transit systems in the US, calling for increased police presence at airports and train and subway stations.
For me, it was almost spooky. Suddenly, Bert wasn't such a bad guy after all. He was becoming a familiar figure, but sometimes there is comfort in familiarity. I wish we can get good old Bert back all by himself. I never liked Ernie anyway.
- posted by Woofwoof @ 5:02 AM
