Well, first there was the shock and horror of the event. The tremendous sadness for the victims, the sympathy for their survivors. Astonishment at the waste, the apparent senselessness of it.

Followed was the realization that this wasn't an isolated event, that it was perpetrated by people outraged at decades of US abuse of Muslims. There is a cause and effect, and the American predation of the Middle East has been going on for a long, long time.

Some time later there was admiration of the event itself as a tactic. Using our own assets and at a cost of only 19 lives, they have cost the US trillions, yes, trillions of dollars of damage, in direct and indirect costs. Increased security is only one of those costs. And while folks called the perps "cowards", they were willing to die for their beliefs. More than most Americans are.

And my opinion of politicians and the American people sank to a new low. Jingoism took over as politicians parleyed that death and destruction to their own selfish ends, their own agenda, disregarding what would be best for the American people and a significant portion of the rest of the world.

Watching Americans go along like sheep as their trust was betrayed again and again, as the Constitution was torn to shreds, as the country espoused torture, gave up the right to legal representation, in fact took page, chapter and book from pre-WWII Germany and did so eagerly in the name of "security" has been difficult. It was a growing experience to have to figure out what it took for people to behave that way, and realize that the mentality of lynch mobs is very close to home. And the surface.

And now as the mild backlash is occuring, there is hope. Maybe even faith. I know the American people will do the right thing if presented with all the information, and that the penalty for abusing that trust will be severe. By the time he leaves office Bush will have to pardon himself to keep from being prosecuted. That is a warm thought.

There is another 18 months for him to keep screwing up, to attack Iran, more lies and duplicity to be exposed and sink in to the collective psyche, and the economy to enter a very difficult time. All of that will work with the innate goodness of people to rectify the errors, though the US will necessarily leave Iraq and Afghanistan a shambles and walk away from all promises to rebuild them. Complete shambles. Those people who worked so hard to destroy them will not help to pay for reconstruction any more than they did Vietnam.

Americans will come through. We always have. There's hope. Better yet, there's faith. And there's no way the perps will accept responsibility.

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Don't know if that answered that question.

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