The new normalcy raises its ugly head

ìAfter Warnings, Getting Back to Business,î by Ben White, Washington Post 3 Aug, p. E1.

ìWorkers stay positive, arrive at jobs as usual,î by Rick Hampson, USA, 3 Aug, p. 3A.

ìAttack Threats Cast Shadow On Forecasts,î by Nell Henderson, WP, 3 Aug, p. E1.

ìHuge net cast in terrorist search: Employee lists and thousands of delivery logs to be reviewed,î by Kevin Johnson and John Diamond, USA, 3 Aug, p. 3A.

ìPreparing for the Terror Alert: Latest Warning Underscores How Little Many Have Done; The Case for Text Messaging,î by Andrea Petersen and Jesse Drucker, Wall Street Journal, 3 Aug, p. D1.

How would you like to gain access to your place of work by having to walk past scary looking guys holding automatic weapons and wearing helmets and sunglasses?

Come to think of it, I do that every day.

Then again, I enter a military base when I go to work. But if I did it on Wall Street, or saw those guns on the Metro in DC, that would leave an impression even on me. You simply canít breeze past a killing weapon like that and feel more secure in the process. I remember being surrounded by hordes of Indian special forces guys all clad in black ninja outfits in Mumbai in the spring of 2001, when I was there for the big International Fleet Review. My treat was to spend a lot of time within armís reach of Indiaís President and Prime Minister, and I gotta tell you, being surrounded by that many guys with automatic weapons didnít make me feel very secure (donít even get me started on the roof-top sharpshooters). In fact, what I mostly felt was a sense of being too close to very dangerous objectsómeaning the Indian leaders. It was like they wore this giant target on their backs that said: ìWe have a real history of assassinating our leaders in this country!î I couldnít help feeling like if something happened, Iíd end up as this tiny little footnote in Indian political historyóyou know, the obscure American official whose head got blown off when the bomb killed the PM.

But thatís how life has been lived in India for quite some time, so people donít think about it that much there, just like in Israel, or certain European countries. But itís definitely a new normalcy thatís hard for most Americans to get used to.

I watched Steven Spielbergís ì1941î last weekend with my kids, and it reminded me how easily Americans can get their undies in a twist. The comedy was based on some real events, and obviously those events were exaggerated for comic effect, but it reminded me how much Americans like to get wound up. Hell, just walk into a grocery store along the Atlantic coast when a hurricane is comingóitís absolutely nutty to watch people stock up on toilet paper, milk and bread like somehow weíll see none of those things ever again in the After Time. Hell, we just plain like to be scared.

But there are real economic and social costs to all that fear. We may be fighting a war of attrition with al Qaeda, but theyíre fighting a war of exhaustion with us. This guy has given his life over to living in a cave, so we better not plan on his type getting worn out too soon. But thatís why I say this war has to be about something bigger and betteróa real happy ending. Fear is exhausting, whereas building a future worth creating is something that animates people.

Have I taken any great precautions since 9/11? No. I prefer a different route, dedicating my life and career to something positive. Thatís why Iím sitting here typing away in my hotel room after 9 hours of meetings today. I want to build something, not firewall it. Like anybody else, I want to leave a better world for my kids.