You know that, Dan.

The TV Gulf War notwithstanding. (And how many people here think that wasn't truly finished, but an extended skirmish in the struggle about which we currently speak? My hand's up.)

There will have to be a quick response, but it will just be another bandaid unless there is a sustained effort to finish this, and it will take years. We're going to have to extend our attention spans.

And I mean what I said about civic spirit and civil rights. Some of that will be suspended for a while. In WWII there was rationing, and hoarding was considered criminal. During the Civil War, Lincoln suspended habeas corpus. We've got bigger and better tools today, but we are not bigger and better people than those Americans were then. Some rollback of civil liberties must be expected. We need to watch carefully, co-operate when needed, and remember normalcy so as to be prepared to return to it.

Or we could, as you say, lose interest quickly and get injured again because of our short attention span and lack of will.

Regards--
Mary Anne