It's a fine post, RAM. I have to "ditto" dialyn's first sentence. As to those of us who haven't been overly shrouded in comptemplative sadness today, I don't know what to say. Maybe numbed from the death I knew in my Viet Nam days. Maybe pissed off at the 232 (number close, but probably not exact) soldiers that died in their barracks on peace-keeping duty in Beiruit that received a few weeks outrage in the papers. Or the chartered plane full of soldiers returning to the US on Christmas leave that plummeted to the earth killing the mothers and dads of all those children waiting at the airport that got hardly any press at all because around that time, America experienced the loss of a PanAm jet over Lockerby, Scotland. And then there is Oklahoma, etc. Veterans Day and Memorial Day should mean something to a retired soldier. But, I see too many civilians who pay false homage. So, I numb myself to the message of those days, too. Before the "flames" arrive, today makes me sad. 3,000 lives with "fingers" that touched thousands and thousands more is a hard loss to top (so to speak). I guess I've just become a bit more numb than I should be. Or, maybe my melancholy (sp?) feeling today does show through. I guess I'm just remembering a lot of people who died at the hands of terrorists. Israilis and Palestinians notwithstanding. I've spent the day with my wife. Took leave from our government job. Got the kids from school instead of having them come home on the bus. And just took my comfort that we are still together. And busied ourselves. Or, maybe I'm just a sad excuse for a human being.