avram | Perspective on the day

Reading Patrick’s piece about grief and 9/11 reminded me of something mamishka told me when we were chatting on the phone a week or two ago. She mentioned talking about the event during the immediate aftermath with people on a MUSH she frequents, and how some of them were spinning the same line Patrick mentions having seen: “After all, why all the fuss? 9/11’s body count is nothing compared to AIDS in Africa, or name your genocide.”

That stuck with me, Mimi’s story about the MUShers, and brought me back to my younger days. See, I’m not much of a joiner. I don’t group easily with other people, and a lot of the stuff that gets most people into groups just ticks me off. I’ve always been really sensitive to emotional manipulation, and I tend to have a strong rejection response. So I know just how those MUSHers felt, because I felt the same way when I was 14: Oh, so you think you’re going to make me care about what you care about? Well, here are some intellectual reasons why what you care about is meaningless! So there! I won‘t care about anything! (That last bit never really worked as well as it was supposed to.) Twenty-two years later, I’m glad I’m not 14 anymore.