Faith and Doubt

I'm a little unsettled at all the 9/11 hype leading up to the anniversary of the World Trade Center attacks. Those were horrible, terrible days, and while I wouldn't argue that we should forget them, I'm a little disturbed at how much the media seems intent on making us relive them. I don't want to see those images again.

And I hope - though in truth I don't have much faith that this'll be the case - that the media manages to strike a balance between appropriate solemnity and maudlin, corny treatment. As many of you know, I don't have a whole lot of faith in our news media to refrain from the temptation to go into full on yellow journalism mode.

I guess we'll see, huh?

I'm mostly looking forward to watching a documentary on Frontline that my boss particularly recommended: Faith and Doubt at Ground Zero.

Have you ever given credence to the old saying, "He had the smell of desperation about him?" I, to be honest, had never given it much thought beyond thinking it was a kinda hackneyed literary image - until I attended a recent reading of a friend's new play.

This person seemed to be the epitome of calm, having arranged all these actors to read the play, and invited a bunch of respected peers to offer opinions on the first draft. But after the reading, I had the opportunity to stand next to the playwright, and I literally smelled the nervousness eminating in waves. The anxiety and worry over what all these people thought, and how everything turned out had literally destroyed any hope that deoderant might work and turned the playwright's breath fetid in the space of a mere two hours. Can you imagine that kind of stress? I have a hard time wrapping my head around it - but of course it also makes me wonder what the hell I smell like when I'm really stressed out.