Eleven years ago to the day, 11 September 2001, al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked & crashed four airliners, destroying the World Trade Center in New York City & setting ablaze the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The war they declared is not betwixt Christianity & Islam, nor betwixt the West & the Middle East, but betwixt the forces of civilization & the rule of law & the forces of chaos & the rule of whim. Civilization began to strike back on the day, as the passengers of the fourth hijacked airliner—United Flight 93—battled their captors, resulting in the aeroplane crashing in a Pennsylvania field, not its intended target in the District of Columbia (likely either the Capitol or the White House). Al-Qaeda is a death cult, a remorseless, pitiless enemy without scruples; no tactic is beneath those blasphemers. Al-Qaeda cannot defeat us as long as we remember that our civilization—liberal democracy & the free market—is not the natural, fallen state of Man, but a triumphant beacon of enlightenment erected & maintained by the blood & toil of generations. We cannot be defeated so long as we are willing to fight, to prove as we have many times over the past two & a half centuries that right makes might, not the other way around. Never forget our fellow citizens who were murdered on that day of infamy, eleven years ago today.
Never forget.
The Explorers' Club
№ CCCI - Thucydides's Melian Dialogue & the annihilation of Melos by Athens, 415 B.C.
Operation ÖSTERREICH
I resumed my "daily" constitutional last week after a lapse of nigh-on two months. My intervals were fairly consistent 'til today, when I dropped almost two & a half minutes compared to yesterday's times, & set a new course record. Maybe I'm just getting back into the swing of things? My legs felt like lead in the early stages of this morning's foray, at least in part because I'd done a number of deep knee bends before setting out, but as a result I urged myself to push, to pump my legs ever faster to compensate for what I perceived as my snail's pace. The question is not if I'll take my daily constitutional tomorrow; I've waited a week before mentioning Operation ÖSTERREICH to make sure that my heart was back in the endeavor. No, the question is what kind of interval I'll post tomorrow. Was today's relatively fleet pace a fluke? Time, in more ways than one, shall tell.
The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Semisonic, "Bed" from All About Chemistry (T.L.A.M.)
2 comments:
How far do you usually walk? I find that at least two miles a day at a brisk clip is a pretty good baseline for me.
My route is two-plus miles, but I cannot say precisely how "-plus." I received a cheap pedometer in a swag bag, & over the next several days I'll average its readings to reckon the distance traveled.
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