| Hunting
Blindly for Answers |
| Americans are divided on how to cope with the war on terror,
which now has expanded from bombs and soldiers to anthrax
and threats of yet unseen violence. |
| Some statistics: |
| Since the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City and the Pentagon,
it has been reported that the sale of liquor, wine and beer,
especially in restaurants, has increased 30 percent, and that
the number of people eating together has increased dramatically. |
| Maybe all those people eating and talking together make
it more conducive to drinking more, and then maybe drinking
more makes you talk more, or maybe drinking more just plain
lets you forget more. That's anyone's guess. |
| Also since Sept. 11, the sale of Bibles has increased 40
percent. The Bible has traditionally always been a bestseller,
and during times of trial, like war, Bible sales have increased.
But according to one book seller, never has there been an
increase in the sale of Bibles like there has been during
the past six weeks. |
| "People are searching for the answers why God allows evil
to exist," a university religion professor said on television
this week. "Some people search for answers where they have
never found them before." |
| And call it what you may, "war buying," "victory shopping,"
"patriotic spending," retail stores are reporting higher sales
now than they did before Sept. 11. Shopping has become a way
of fighting back, especially for those who have little else
to use as weapons. |
| There has been a joke floating around the media this weekäone
of the very few jokes we have heard about the waräthat a terrorist
has yet to encounter the wrath of a woman headed for a fall
sale at Macy's. |
| From booze to Bibles to buying, Americans are searching
for their own way of coping with the anxiety of this new-age
war. |
| Hiding Out |
| One of my ways of coping with this whole mess has been to
leave for a week. We had a week's vacation planned in mid-September
but that became undoable. So here we are in mid-October in
the Great North enjoying fall weather at its best. |
| There is no escaping the war, even in the American Midwest.
But attitudes change when people don't live in the middle
of the East Coast action, where government and post office
buildings are closed and where the scares of Sept. 11 are
so visible. The support for the "effort," however, is not
diminished. |
| The sounds you hear in this beautiful part of the country
are different from those you hear in Herndon. A clap of thunder,
as it bounces off Lake Michigan, sounds more like a bomb than
it does thunder. Lightning is brighter, looking more like
those grainy televised reports on bombing raids we see so
often coming from Afghanistan. And the rare airplane you see
and hear around these parts demands everyone's attention. |
| But the most disconcerting sound of all is the pop-pops
of the fall hunters looking for their annual prey. It's dawn,
and I'm lying in bed, my eyes half-open, listening to the
sound of guns going off not far from where we are staying.
I know this is not waräunless you're an animal. |
| You don't hear, or see, many hunters in Herndon, and I'm
not all that familiar with the sound of hunting rifles. I
don't even know how far away the hunters are from my home.
I hope it is miles, but I know it's not. |
| On my desk is a booklet produced by the Department of Natural
Resources of Michigan. It's titled "2001 Michigan Hunting
and Trapping Guide." It is a comprehensive guide to the rules
of hunting and trapping, and your two cartoon guides as you
read through the booklet are named (and I'm not making this
up) "Sandy Dunes and Forrest Trails." |
| One of the most interesting chapters in the book is called
"Information for Hunters with Disabilities." One section deals
with "Visually Impaired Hunters" (blind guys with gunsänow
that makes me feel really safe). Quote: "A blind person can
use a laser sighting device in taking an animal. The person
must be (with) a sighted person at least 18 years old." |
| Ok, now you have a blind hunter with a laser rifle being
led by an 18-year-old kid. |
| Maybe the war against terror isn't so dangerous after all. |
| And that's Our Town this week. |
