Life yet goes on

One month? Already?

One full month since that fatal day when the terrorists attacked the World Trade Centers and the Pentagon.

It seems to have passed by in an instant, and already, the sharpness of the pain is dulling its edges.

Life continues. Every day we continue to plod along our separate paths to school, seemingly oblivious to the goings on of the small countries halfway around the world. Hallway conversations now consist of the daily grievances of tests, homework, and a plethora of other things that only high school students fret about.

It's no longer anything truly serious. Just the normal lives of high school teenagers trying to go on with their lives. Lives that have been indelibly marked with the national tragedy of the eleventh of September.

In and out, every day is a habitual routine carried out without too much contemplative thought. We're settling back into the familiar norm of high school life. Life is simple as can be.

But now we're at war.

But even that does not change much in the lives of students going to school. Perhaps one or two students will feel the pain more acutely than the rest, but as for the rest, what is done is done, and now all that is left is to pick up the pieces and continue walking. Already, thoughts are turning to other issues, such as whose dress is prettier for homecoming, or who is going with whom.

It's amazing how soon the human mind forgets. There may have been a sudden surge of patriotism in America in the past few weeks, but soon that, too, will fade away. The flags hanging in doorways, cars, and windows will slowly disappear from sight. Grieving hearts will turn to happiness, and all too soon, this second day of infamy will only be another date in the history books.

Yet, perhaps that is one of the blessings of the human mind. That we can forget and forgive. Already, we can see how even just one short month has wrought its healing powers on all of us. We can laugh, dance, and walk on.

And even one war won't be able to stop that.