thanks, chad. i am lazy about housekeeping around here. everything is fixed up now.

'it's not all the muslims, it's not all the arabs, but there are radical militant islamics who are out to do in america - completely. they don't want peace, period.'

from an american who had lived in the middle east, and decided to return to the states. hearing this makes me angry. at the world. that so many people don't see peace as a solution, or for that matter, even a possibility.

experiencing life away from television, away from newspapers...on my trip i knew that we had started to attack. i knew that the war was here. now. but, i felt somehow removed from it, living a life where my priorities were focused around exploring new places, meeting new people, having new experiences. it was a kind of reassurance that life as we used to know it still exists.

i am scared. not of my house being bombed. not of a plane being hijacked. not of a contaminated water supply. i am scared of a changed world. one in which we are fearful of everything. everybody. everywhere. and, in reality, that time is here. we can never ever guarantee that there will not be terrorist attacks. no matter how many bombs are dropped in the middle east. there will always be those whose will is to terrorize those they are against. this threat was always there, really, we just didn't realize it before. but now we will realize it forever. my greater fear is that these attacks will evolve to biological and neuclear weapons....weapons that do not discriminate. weapons that are out to destroy everybody. i hate thinking 'it will never be the same'...