Roughly this time last year, I was in London for several days with a friend, arriving 9-10 days after 9/11. We both remarked on the general feeling of consolation we encountered when local folks realized we were Americans. We appreciated it.

In the year since, it is my sense that the U.S.A., at least if interpreted by the acts of its somewhat-elected representatives, has done just about everything it can to squander whatever goodwill it might have otherwise continued to benefit from. By this I don't mean the retaliation against Al Quaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan, but rather the incredible ulilateral approach to treaties and security taken by the Cheney/Bush administration and its arrogant minions.

To a great extent, I feel like citizens in the country are going along. I feel like we're still pretty absorbed by a U.S.-centric point of view (Yes, A shattered nation longs to care about stupid bullshit again.). While I enjoyed reading and watching "Band of Brothers", I get nervous that perhaps we have taken away a sense that our troops will always be moral and our cause always just.

Anyhow, as I watched CNN from my sniper-proof hotel room earlier this week, and looked at the rows of sheet-covered bodies, then started to see the list of dead and missing on the Sydney Morning Herald's web pages, I wondered if we here in the U.S. had figured out what that meant.

Anyhow, I flunked Compassion and Consolation 101 in college, so I'm not sure that I'm qualified to do this, but I'll try:

Hello, Oz. How are you doing?