On a day when I feel the need to hunker down, hide from the bees (wasps, actually) who continue to threaten my way of life (or at least the part that occurs in my closet and bathroom), I found this quote in GQ interesting:
Q: So you think we are getting too hunkered down and scared?
Yes! We are taking too much counsel of our fears.This doesn’t mean there isn’t a terrorist threat. There is a threat. And we should send in military forces when we have a target to deal with. We should also secure our airports, if that makes us safer. But let’s welcome every foreign student we can get our hands on. Let’s make sure that foreigners come to the Mayo Clinic here, and not the Mayo facility in Dubai or somewhere else. Let’s make sure people come to Disney World and not throw them up against the wall in Orlando simply because they have a Muslim name. Let’s also remember that this country was created by immigrants and thrives as a result of immigration, and we need a sound immigration policy.
Let’s show the world a face of openness and what a democratic system can do. That’s why I want to see Guantánamo closed. It’s so harmful to what we stand for. We literally bang ourselves in the head by having that place. What are we doing this to ourselves for? Because we’re worried about the 380 guys there? Bring them here! Give them lawyers and habeas corpus. We can deal with them. We are paying a price when the rest of the world sees an America that seems to be afraid and is not the America they remember.
You can drive up the road from here and come to a spot where there is a megachurch over here, a little Episcopal church over there, a Catholic church around the corner that’s almost cathedral-size, and between them is a huge Hindu temple. There are no police needed to guard any of this. There are not many places in the world where you would see that. Yes, there are a few dangerous nuts in Brooklyn and New Jersey who want to blow up Kennedy Airport and Fort Dix. These are dangerous criminals, and we must deal with them. But come on, this is not a threat to our survival! The only thing that can really destroy us is us. We shouldn’t do it to ourselves, and we shouldn’t use fear for political purposes—scaring people to death so they will vote for you, or scaring people to death so that we create a terror-industrial complex.
I never thought I'd take advice from Colin Powell, but that seems to make sense to me. I'm sending in the military forces (the exterminator) and securing my attic. But no longer will I take too much counsel of my fears. I will continue to brush my teeth, use the toilet, and shower, standing up for what I believe in, namely, hygiene.
The forces of evil will see that we've a friendly mixed-species household. A few dangerous nuts (for instance, that wasp crawling in my hair while I used the toilet) will not deter me from offering freedom to all spiders and such who want to settle here, peacefully.
I will offer not only habeas corpus but also lawyers to those who repent of their evil stinging ways; the rest will be summarily executed. And I will not vote for anyone who tries to scare me, including the beekeeper, with his terror-industrial complex.
Not sure this is what Colin had in mind.
(Note: If you are a lawyer and would like to represent these terrorist bees before I offer them the option of death or forced deportment, please contact me so I can put you in touch with their queen.)
(Another note: The exterminator is known as "Crusader Pest Control". You can't make this stuff up!)
