Clean it up

A surge of guilt washed over me this week when I realized I knew nothing of current world events living here in isolated bliss. I did read a passed-down People magazine brought by a visitor from New York I met while lounging at the pool at the newly renamed, "The Inn at Loreto Bay." She and I had an interesting conversation which brought me current with how people who live near Central Park view events in the middle east. The horror of September 11th still haunts them and they keep their eyes open to potential threats. I did know one piece of news from home that I relayed to her: the FBI is investigating a trucking school in a small cow- town in the midwest in which the majority of its test-takers (over 60%) have Moslem-sounding names. Since when did West Plains, Missouri become a magnet for Islamist wanna-be truck drivers? My new friend was not surprised by this, she said there are terrorist cells at work all through New York.

Our poolside chat reminded me that I'd forgotten my anxiety about the world. What is happening back home? The following evening I sat devouring what news I could find on television and the internet and by the morning I was in a state of high anxiety. I learned that civil war in Iraq is imminent; that Russia passed information to Bagdad during the 2003 invasion and nobody's taking this seriously enough; that Al-Quida terrorist, Zacariah Moussaoui claims he was supposed to high-jack an jet airplane and fly it into the White House, that thousands of marchers are protesting current illegal immigration policy before a Senate committee, that a minister's wife shot him dead in the back this week leading to speculation on what horrible thing he'd done, and that some kindergarteners in New Jersey were performing God-know-what sexual acts on each other in the back of the bus on the way to school.

Meanwhile my most pressing concern is that Allison's school insists she needs her FM3 resident status to remain in their good graces and receive actual grades. No problemo. I joke, but I am worried for America like never before. My country, right-or-wrong. I didn't realize how American I was till I came to Mexico. I grew up thinking America was the coolest. I get teary-eyed at our national anthem. I watched Americans land on the moon when I was little. I thought we were the greatest. I believed in the Superpower myth, I think I still do. Now, it seems like everything is geared toward picking us apart.

I guess I'm counting on everyone back home to keep things in line, to protect, defend, and mind the shop. I want the place cleaned up and the laundry put away before I get home.