Rachel Young

sunday, september 16, 2001

Making a conscious effort to get out and about on this beautiful Saturday afternoon, I made a trip to the local Target here in Jersey. And in this affluent, quiet part of suburbia, you almost forget what’s going on right across the Hudson River. It's almost as if September 11th never happened.

As I stood in line to pay for my items, I was sadly reminded people will always be people—many times rude and inconsiderate of others. What a disheartening fact after witnessing the way people have really been coming together this past week.

Two lanes over, a woman and man (both middle-aged Caucasians) broke out in a shouting match. The surrounding patrons all turned their focus on these two individuals as they yelled obscenities at one another. There were several young children in the vicinity--one standing right in front of me holding onto her mother’s leg. The young toddler, with blonde curls gracing the crown of her head, had a frightened and confused look on her face. “Mommy, why are they fighting?”

At first I thought it was a married couple having a public domestic spat, but I soon realized they were complete strangers. The only coherent words I could catch of the argument was the woman yelling at the man behind her in line screaming, “Goddamn it, there are people fucking dying and all you can do is complain about me holding you up in line!”

And then the man yelled back at her, but I couldn’t make out what he was saying. A woman, who I assume to be his wife, stood idly to the side. Finally after paying for her items, the woman who had been yelling at the man, walked out of the store still muttering curses under her breath.

I couldn’t believe it. Only the night before, this was a peaceful community that had been united in a candlelight vigil for Tuesday’s victims. What was suppose to be an innocuous and simple trip to the local store turned out to be a very sad reality check for me. I wish I had just stayed home, minding my own business as usual.

Later, my roommate comes home at 1:30am and tells me about a fight that broke out between two men at the local bar. One ended up taking a beer bottle and smashing it into the other's head (fortunately no serious damage done). I know these individuals are just a few out of billions, and I shouldn't let them get to me. But as melodramatic as this may sound, in the grand scheme of things, they represent the ever-existing division among mankind. I know it's too ideal to think we could ever live in total harmony with one another. And this is what breaks my heart. Personally for me, maintaining even the smallest degree of optimism in this day and age has become nearly impossible. Nearly but not quite.

Some things will never change, and sometimes we just never learn. Is it any wonder why we repeat history over and over again?

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