Apocalypse

"Sherman wasn't doing title checks on his March to the Sea."

This thought occurred to me while watching a PBS show (American Experience, I think) about "Gone with the Wind" author Margaret Mitchell. In response to some intractability on schoolwork, her mother took her on a tour of local estates that had been ravaged by Sherman fifty years earlier. In that area, at least, the families never rebuilt, leaving the wrecks of these huge estate houses as ghosts of the war. And inspiring, no doubt, the dream of a rebuilt Tara.

In any case, while anticipating the next incident in the Crisis, it's important to look beyond conventional wisdom. And to carefully consider the real implications of extreme options. Paying off the mortgage may be a good idea, but it won't help if Sherman rides through your town.

Newtown

It does feel different, even after Columbine and UVA and too many others. Certainly that they were children - 6 and 7 years old - has a lot to do with it, as does how many were murdered. Perhaps, too, it's the time of the Turning that has us more upset - that it's Reactives and Civics identifying with the parents - for those others, the victims were Civics, their parents Boomers and Xers. While the Crisis puts us on edge, there's some idea of an underlying normalcy, which this shatters.

There are calls for change, of course. How much this relates to the Crisis will probably be shown in whether anything is implemented - what do we do, if anything.