The New York Post says a grieving WTC widow shot herself the day before the three month anniversary. It seems the death of a beloved dog, on top of her husband a few weeks earlier, was just too much. She waited until they'd had the memorial service, got her affairs in order, and committed suicide.
I wish there was something profound to say about this, but all I can come up with is that we must not forget that while most of us are pretty much going on with our lives, there are thousands of families who are still struggling with grief. When we justly worry about the effects of the war on terrorism, we must not forget the effects of the terrorism itself.
On the anniversary, I don't have much to say & I don't really feel like ranting. The only thing I'll say is this: one of the things I do on the site is get the guys to fill out forms. We haven't had a single one ask what today's date was.
So instead, I'm going to post a poem which is one of the first things I thought of when I started working in this trailer. It's about the Blitz, not 9-11, and it's very Catholic, but I think it sums up nicely.
Still falls the Rain-- Dark as the world of man, black as our loss-- Blind as the nineteen hundred and forty nails Upon the Cross.
Still falls the Rain With a sound like the pulse of the heart that is changed to the hammerbeat In the Potter's Field, and the sound of the impious feet On the Tomb: Still falls the Rain In the Field of Blood where the small hopes breed and the human brain Nurtures its greed, that worm with the brow of Cain.
Still falls the Rain At the feet of the Starved Man hung upon the Cross. Christ that each day, each night, nails there, have mercy on us-- On Dives and on Lazarus: Under the Rain the sore and the gold are as one.
Still falls the Rain-- Still falls the Blood from the Starved Man's wounded Side He bears in his Heart all wounds,--those of the light that died, The last faint spark In the self-murdered hear, the wounds of the sad uncomprehending dark, The wounds of the baited bear,-- The blind and weeping bear whom the keepers beat On his helpless flesh... the tears of the hunted hare.
Still falls the Rain-- Then--O Ile leape up to my God: who pulles me doune-- See, see where Christ's blood streames in the firmament: It flows from the Brow we nailed upon the tree Deep to the dying, to the thirsting heart That holds the fires of the world,--dark-smirched with pain As Caesar's laurel crown.
Then sounds the voice of One who like the heart of man Was once a child who among the beasts has lain-- `Still do I love, still shed my innocent light, my Blood, for thee.'
Apologize for the purely social note for those of you who have come to expect only top-notch, hard hitting analysis & tasty WTC tidbits from me, but I'm proud to announce the foundation of the Thursday Afternoon Drinking Club, a support group for formerly employeed, almost employed, or still searching-for-a-job MBA's. We'll be kicking off our inaugural meeting this Thursday afternoon (as the name may have suggested to my more sagacious readers) at 2:30 over at McQuaid's on 44th and 11th. A good time WILL be had by all, or I'm going to know the reason why.
The Wall Street Journal says that bonuses will decline 30% this year (subscription required). This was a shock to me, as from what my friends on the Street have been telling me, I expected the decline to be somewhere in the neighborhood of 100%. But then I realized that first, the big guys up top, who skew the numbers heavily upward, will continue to be taken care of, and second, that much of the rest will be the kind of bonus that isn't green and negotiable. For example, the rumor is that Morgan Stanley is forcing everyone to take their bonus in stock. Company stock. Isn't this the kind of thing that's getting Enron into trouble with Richard Cohen?
All those threatening late night TV commercials were telling you the truth about the dangers of cable theft: they're going after O.J. Simpson for stealing cable. Okay, I think the man's guilty as sin, but this smacks a little too much of impotent law enforcement officials lashing out. Turns out they were actually trying to arrest him for participation in an illegal ecstasy ring -- and I suspect they wouldn't have gone after that had it not been for the murder. Failing both (no evidence of his participation turned up during the search), they're going after him for illegally receiving satellite TV.
On the other hand, I always applaud when they use tactics like this on Law and Order, plus maybe they're just trying to hold him on the lesser charge while they build a case on the drug thing. But it makes me wonder if we aren't going to see this man bouncing in and out of court for the rest of his life on any stupid charge anyone can drum up. Instead of holding him without bail to prevent his fleeing the country, the judge can just shorten one leg on his walker. But if it does come to this, at least we can take comfort in the fact that it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.
Excellent editorial in this week's TNR on Israel's situation. Choice quote:
" There is the view, of course, that Arafat is preferable to what will come after him. This view would be plausible if Arafat were not already doing the work of those who will come after him. He has not accepted any diplomatic solution that will not fulfill the entirety of Palestinian aspirations on all of the west bank of the Jordan River, and he has not stopped or restrained Palestinian terror. In what significant way, then, is he different from Hamas?"
This coalesces a vague consciousness that I have had for a while -- that while Arafat may indeed be kinder and gentler than Hamas, it is impossible to imagine that Hamas as the leadership could actually be all that much worse than Arafat, at least from Israel's point of view. As I've said before, Arafat can't deliver a peace Israel can live with, so whether or not he wants to is not a fit measure of his ability to lead Palestine. In some ways Hamas might be better for Israel, because their total intransigence would increase Israel's position in the world community.
There's an article in today's Weekly Standard on Mary Shelley, author of Frankenstein and wife of Percy Bythe Shelley, a Romantic poet whose works are still widely read. The gist of the article is that it's not a good idea to marry a Romantic poet, particularly if he happens to be named Percy Bythe Shelley. Which put me in mind of one of my favorite Mark Twain pieces -- a book review called "In Defense of Harriet Shelley" that takes apart, in high style, a nineteenth century biographer. No higher purpose in posting this -- just good, clean, Lit Major type fun.
From the Weekly Standard (subscription may be required), an excellent article on human cloning contains the following priceless quote from ethicist Paul Ramsey: "any person, or any society or age, expecting ultimate success where ultimate success is not to be reached, is peculiarly apt to devise extreme and morally illegitimate means for getting there."
