| Keeping
Our Heads Down |
| So, how's your life been this past week? |
| I was hoping I wasn't going to have to write this kind of
column again this week, but the only talk around the office,
in the newspapers and on television was about the sniper. |
| Stories abound from every day, ordinary people talking about
how they are taking unnatural steps to make them feel safe. |
| It's because officials keep telling us to carry on with
our normal activities, things like walking the dog, going
to work, buying gas, shopping at Home Depot, going to parades
and enjoying the never-ending benefits of living in the Greater
Washington, D.C. Metro area. |
| What most of us are asking, however,"is it foreign
or domestic terrorism?" |
| This past weekend we went to an antique show at the Dulles
Expo Center. People scurried to get inside the building, and
the crowd was half of what it normally is. People on smoke
breaks leaned against stone columns outside the building,
like a soldier hunkered down in a bunker, and no one lingered
long in the parking lot. |
| On Saturday, the Amoco gas station on Elden Street and Alabama
Drive in Herndon had cars parked between the gas pumps and
the street. Were the cars a screen, of sorts? People have
exchanged gas-buying stories, with some saying they only buy
$3 at a time, then move on to another station for another
$3. Keep moving. You're less of a target. |
| So are you living your life normally today? |
| On Tuesday of this week Herndon police were stopping white
vans rolling down Elden Street. I mean, here's this guy in
a white van with ladders on the top trying to get to a painting
job and he's pulled over. It's tough times, and if I was driving
that white van I'd thank the cop for checking me out. I'd
feel safer. |
| Schools are in lock down mode. Like a prison. Recess and
sport practices are held inside and cops seem to be everywhere
when students are dropped off or picked up after school. |
| Restaurants report a big drop off in customers and delivery
food services report an increase in home orders. I know of
a hotel which had an expected occupancy rate of 80 percent
this weekend, but cancellations due to security risks have
dropped that to 40 percent. |
| Five counties in Maryland have canceled hunting season for
the time being. The governor didn't want the sounds of legal
hunting to interfere with the criminal investigation of finding
a sniper. |
| So are you living your life normally today? |
| Bringing this even closer to home, the Herndon Homecoming
parade, scheduled for this weekend, the homecoming football
game and the homecoming dance have been postponed until Nov.
9. Homecoming events at South Lakes High School also have
been postponed. |
| Homecomings are like apple pie, hot dogs and motherhood.
They are now held hostage by this shooter, and whether he
be foreign or domestic, the deaths have terrorized us all. |
| And yet they keep telling us to carry on with our normal
activities, with our normal, everyday goings on. It is so
incredibly difficult, especially when a war is looming over
our heads and the threat of evil around the world is a constant
reminder of the violence in today's world. |
| I've made a personal pledge to keep on moving, to keep on
doing what needs to be done in my life. But my neck is getting
sore from looking over my shoulder. |
| And that's Our Town this week. |
