This is probably unfair of me

[rivka]

But what the hell, I'll post it anyway. I was surfing the Random LJ link, and came across this entry:

Why isn't anything happening? [13 Sep 2001|08:03pm]
[ mood | aggravated ]
[ music | Azn Dreamers - Keep the Flame Alive ]

Well my life this week has been completely and utterly boring...the only thing that really makes me happy is cheerleading and that was canceled because of this whole terrorist thing...i wish it would just end already...neways...i have had no homework to stress over which is a good thing i guess...no tests...no boy problems...no friend problems so i guess life is good...but sometimes i wish that i had some sort of excitement in my life right...i mean the best part of my week is when i get to hang out with my friends or talk to the ones i don't see very often...when i don't have anything important to think about...i start to think about things i shouldn't be worrying about at this time...like when i move...am i going to be the same person...will i have a lot of friends...or what i mostly care about...will i have fun? I want to leave, yet i don't...occording to my mother i have it so good in my life right now and the things that i want will come eventually...but when is what i want to know...moving would mess it all up..but it just leads to a fresh start with new opportunities...well this whole entry is based on the fact that i have too much time to think and i starting to scare myself anyway gtg...later!

Well, I guess a terrorist attack that leaves more than 6,000 dead and launches the nation toward war is a bad thing, if it means that cheerleading is cancelled.

No, I know. I know that the world would not be a better place if we all put on sackcloth and ashes and did nothing but mourn the dead and worry about the future. But it's weird to follow random journals and see the shock and horror of 9/11 so quickly replaced by crushes and homework and standard teenage angst.

I've been telling friends and clients: it's okay to return to your normal activities. It's okay to enjoy things. It's okay to stop following every minute of horrifying coverage. You don't owe it to the dead to remain in suspended animation, focused on nothing but the tragedy.

I guess I don't quite believe myself.

Comments

Re:

[rivka.livejournal.com]

Maybe you wouldn't be emotionally tied up if you didn't have a personal stake, or maybe you would. I don't really have a personal loss, myself - I never met or interacted with Liam, and Rose and I aren't particularly close. I never knew that I could grieve this much for strangers.

I think you've probably put your finger on one of the things that irritated me about this girl's journal, though. Part of it is definitely envy. Not that I actually wish that I could be unmoved in the face of this tragedy... just that I wish my world hadn't been shaken to its foundations. I wish I could trust that everything would be the same.

[firecat]

Not that I actually wish that I could be unmoved in the face of this tragedy... just that I wish my world hadn't been shaken to its foundations.

Seebling.

The person who wrote that journal sounds very young. When I was younger, I just accepted the world as it was. I actually think that is a survival trait in the young.

[rivka.livejournal.com]

You know how the news has just been absolutely blanketed with "how to tell your children," "how to comfort your kids and help them cope" articles? My friends who have kids tell me that their kids are mostly taking it in stride. They seem to be blocking most of it out.

I think probably a lot of the obsessive focus on how to help children understand is really directed at helping adults make sense of things. Because most of the kids seem to be okay.

I agree

[firecat]

When I was a kid, I reacted the same way to events that devastated adults. I don't think I was blocking it out. I think I simply didn't have the emotional capacity to understand. At the time I knew I was expected to have a reaction and I felt weird that I didn't have one. But I didn't.