Day 2463 - 9/11

It's hard to believe that it's been fifteen years since the twin towers fell. It seems like yesterday. It's even harder to believe that after all these years, we still aren't any safer than we were then. Two wars and thousands of lost lives haven't made much of a difference. World War II was much shorter from beginning to end than this weird war we're fighting now. Part of the problem is that this has never been a war between nations. It is a clash of civilizations.

You've got part of the world living in the Twenty First Century and another part of the world living in the Fourteenth Century. The Western world should have never allowed itself to become dependent on oil from the Middle East. Middle Eastern countries have been fighting among themselves for thousands of years, but if we didn't need their oil, we would never have needed to get involved. To me, this whole notion that we are one world with a common purpose has been disastrous. I've never been a big fan of globalization. A lot of little countries, each independently moving along at their own pace and living according to their own agenda would be better for everybody.

I met my sleep goal for the first time since I started wearing fitness trackers. I was amazed that I got over eight hours of sleep last night. I woke up once during the night, because Dot had to go outside and pee, but after that, she was relaxed and slept until well after 8 AM. It will probably be a long time before this happens again. Tomorrow, Janet gets up at 5 AM to get ready for work and the dogs wake up shortly after because they know she fixes their breakfast. We've usually completed our first morning walk before 6:30 AM. Getting up early would be fine if it weren't for the fact that I always go to bed late.

Maybe the extra sleep helped my coordination. I shot baskets at the gym better than I have for a long time. I'm not very good, so getting five free throws in a row is a big deal. This success made the rest of my workout seem bearable and I briefly contemplated going to the gym more than once a week. There are often a lot of nice cars in the parking lot when I go to the gym on Sunday. Today I parked between a Bentley and a Porsche Panamera. I tried to guess who the rich guys were while I was walking on the treadmill, but nobody looked particularly successful. There were just a bunch of tired, out of shape old men doing the same things I was.

The world has certainly changed in fifteen years. I didn't think I needed to go to the gym fifteen years ago. I wasn't as healthy as I thought though. I had Hepatitis C and didn't even know it yet. The world wasn't as healthy as I thought either. My business was still pretty successful in 2001 and I remember flying to Germany for a business meeting about a week after 9/11. The airport was filled with soldiers and everybody on the plane seemed nervous. I knew that the world had changed, but I had no idea that the repercussions of that day would continue year after year, seemingly forever. If you had told me than that in 2016 the European Union would be on the verge of collapse, that tribalism had replaced nationalism, that it was next to impossible to find a good job, and that the United States would have two candidates running for president that the voters generally hated, I wouldn't have believed you. Lord knows what will happen next year.

Shadow is today's Dalmatian of the Day

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