The American Embassy

I just got done watching the American Embassy on ABC. I was able to catch the last few minutes of Boston Public as well, but I was glad I decided to stick around and watch the new show, becuase it was fairly decent, which goes against everything I thought about it before it came on tonight (it was the premiere.) I thought the show had a very strong cast, including the hot main character, and built up some really good character relationships. This was one of the few shows that could kill off a “major” character in the first episode and get away with making the audience feel some kind of sadness. It was great. Did anybody else happen to watch it? I was nervous about watching it at frist, though, because it seemed to me like it was just going to be a propaganda type thing. I thought that it might have even not been around if September 11th ever happened. Not to mention that ABC chose to priemere the series on the sixth month anniversary of September 11, which is no coincidence if you ask me.

Yes, I’m going to talk about September 11th again. I can hear you sighing and rolling your eyes now. But please listen anyway.

Since September 11th, I’ve done things that show my support and mourning, like putting an American Flag on my car, putting a flag on my backpack, etc. A month or two after the attack I even wore red, white, and blue clothes on Tuesdays. Since then, some people have had the nerve to say that that was wrong of me to do that, that I’m giving into some kind of “government propaganda.” I know what propaganda is, and when someone from an enemy country blows up any part of New York city, I’m going to want to show my support and mourning for all the lives that were lost. Something that really effected me was when I put the flag on my car. Someone said to be: “Oh, great. Now you’re just like everyone else.” I didn’t know what to say, because they were right, but they meant it in a bad way. They were right that I wanted to unite with everyone, because when you are sad that’s the thing to do: you find people to share your pain. Most of the country felt the pain. If that’s a bad thing, you have a completely different philosophy than I do. If you think that’s wrong, I’m not going to go as far as to say that you’re wrong, but I will ask you to think about the situation. It’s not always bad to feel comfort by joining a large group of people. It’s not about America, it’s not about conformity. On the contrary, it’s very personal.

However, ever since September 11th happened, the thought in the back of my mind was “when is it okay to get over it?” You can only show your support and mourning for so long, then it’s just kind of going through the motions. It’s like if you’ve ever lost a grandparent (or anyone else close to you.) You go to the funeral, feel sadness, and you wonder: “When is it okay to stop feeling sad?” For me, the biggest question was: when is it okay to take off that American Flag button on my backpack and replace it with something else?

That button has stayed on my backpack for the past sixth months. It hasn’t moved. The packback has been through blizzards, me shoving books in and out of it, me throwing it around… it even survived a *yank* on the button itself. But it was still there. It took the words “Standing Strong” seriously. But I find it a strange cooincidence that I woke up today to find the button on the floor next to the bag, with it’s needle bent. I picked it up, and wondered what I should do with it. I decided to put it in my pocket, and tuck it away. It was later in the day, when I was watching the news, when I realized it’s been sixth months since the attacks. A nice even number, I suppose.

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