Though wise men at their end know dark is right

Now as I was young and easy under the apple boughs
About the lilting house and happy as the grass was green,
The night above the dingle starry,
Time let me hail and climb
Golden in the heydays of his eyes

   I was thinking about the terrorist attacks of September 11th, and was reminded of the poem Fern Hill, by Dylan Thomas. Although the attacks were on America, the whole world has been changed by them. We were young and easy, happy and green. All that is over.
   After 9/11 time will no longer let us play and be golden. Now, we look over our shoulders with fear. We look at our neighbours with distrust. We look at each other with uncertainty.
   The last one is the worst. Fear we can overcome. Distrust we can set aside. But uncertainty...that will eat you up inside. There is nothing worse in the world than not knowing. It's why we invented God in the first place.
   In a post 9/11 world, people are no longer sure. Sure that they are safe in their homes, safe in their schools, safe in their jobs. And people want to be sure. Thay cannot live with the uncertainty that has entered our world. I believe that is why we are seeing such a strong resurgence in religion in the world these days. People are desperately grasping for something they can be sure about, and the church tells them they can be sure about God.
   In a world where our certainty in our safety can be taken away by nineteen men with box cutters, we will take hold of any fantasy we can to try and take some certainty back.

Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea.

tags: Skepticism, September 11