America Before and After

I’m spending a snowy Sunday inside, cuddled with the cats, eating tangerines I bought from King Soopers, and watching Netflix rentals. Today, it’s Sports Night, a comedy series from the late 90s which was fast-paced, witty, intelligent, and way ahead of its time. Critically acclaimed but not watched by a viewing majority, It barely squeaked out two seasons. I may do a blog about it someday, but the thing I keep thinking about is 1998.

In 1998, the economy was good. Dot coms boomed with no bust in sight. The biggest problem we seemed to have was whether the president was having sex with an intern. On Sports Night, the TVs are square and have large back ends. The characters don’t look too different from people today, but they carry around VHS cartridges and type on computers with huge monitors. On one episode, a character is going to see The Lion King on Broadway, but has no idea the show is sold out.

Amid the laughs and drama, I keep wanting to say to the people on screen, “You have no idea what’s coming, do you?”

Like many others, I see the modern world in two parts: before September 11, 2001, and after. Every movie I watch, every book I read is evaluated by whether the author or characters have yet gone through the experiences of that day.

On Sports Night, they talk about AIDS and the homeless as serious problems, but don’t seem much affected personally. Their individual lives are safe and insular. They can’t yet comprehend how the world could come crashing around them at any moment.

I was 2,000 miles away from the terrorist attacks, but I remember with vivid detail where I was and what I was doing when the World Trade Center fell and the Pentagon burned. I was working from home with the TV on when local TV anchor Kyle Dyer said that a plane had just crashed into one of the twin towers.

“Some drunk pilot,” I thought. “They’ll be talking about this for years.”

Later that day, I interviewed house cleaners and went to the computer store because I needed software. I was in a daze. Everyone was. But we had to go about our business or the terrorists would win.

After 9-11, we still have AIDS and the homeless. Thankfully, there is still also humor on TV. But there’s a difference. Fictional characters and we ourselves, go about our normal business but seem to be half looking over our shoulders, knowing something terrible and life-changing could happen again. The President has to manage two wars, whether justified or not. No thought of interns in the national conscience these days. There is extra security, ridiculous at times, at the airport. And we are reminded of terror every time we see the ubiquitous skyline of New York on TV show cutaways – on Sports Night, the twin towers achingly present, on newer shows, painfully absent.

A trial soon begins of the man who is said to be the mastermind of the 9-11 attacks. As is typical in the United States of America, there is discussion of justice and a desire to see this man punished for taking those thousands of lives. As appropriate and necessary in the USA, there is concern that we continue to follow the law: give this man a fair trial and not lose our heads to emotion and vengeance.

As to whether the trial should be held in civilian or military court, in New York or somewhere else, I don’t really care. I frankly, personally, don’t care what happens to the guy.

I want my 1998 back.

But this is America. Part of the Obama victory last year was a mandate to return to the reasonable, just, and democratic America which could be an example to the rest of the world. We have a constitution which rules over our hot heads. Every accused criminal gets a fair trial so that all of us can be free.

Now, back to Sports Night.