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Politics : Formerly About Applied Materials -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Sam Citron who wrote (57587)	12/14/2001 8:01:10 PM
From: mitch-c	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 70976

OT - a bit personal, pep talk for nebulous threats Out of town for a funeral most of this week ... holding AMAT DEC 45 puts. I missed a chance to sell them for more than double today while I was catching up with the crises at work. Oh, well. ============== Folks, keep a perspective with all these warnings of more terrorist activity. There is a difference between caution and fear. In a conversation with my family, I asserted that there will be no more US aircraft hijacked for a generation. The reason is simple. All the extra security hassle won't do a thing - but the reaction of the passengers during an attempt will. We've had the "proper" American reaction defined for us - dogpile the bastards! In their own way, I think the Flight 93 heroes have become as legendary as the defenders of the Alamo. Yes, I'm a native Texan, and I DO know how well Travis, Crockett, Bowie, and Company are revered. The comparison is deliberate and premeditated. In both cases, while ultimately doomed, the participants chose honorable resistance over surrender. In both cases, such resistance frustrated their enemies' ultimate aims. So - if you are unlucky enough to find yourself in the midst of a terror attack, react as the perpetrators wish you wouldn't. Remain calm; help others; and if you get a chance to tackle a terrorist, take it! If you don't, then MAKE it! Spend a little time considering your normal routine, and plan some contingencies - what to do, where to go, how to act if something goes wrong. But don't go overboard and scare yourself. (I spent an hour with my brother discussing improvised tactics on board an airliner - no flight WE'RE on is gonna get taken! My folks were shocked/reassured by the weapons we could create from what was already aboard. Mindset is everything.) Terrorists depend on surprise and panic ... but if you can retake the initiative fast, THEY get surprised and panicked. And that last sentence is how I see Americans. We are the BEST at reacting positively to chaos, because we practice it every day - in business, in traffic, in sports. We organize spontaneously in ad-hoc groups, then reorganize when the situation demands. A machinist may be the foreman's kids' Little League coach - and we're comfortable with that. (It confuses the hell out of anyone who thinks we're one-dimensional!) So - plan for bad things, but don't EXPECT them. Stuff happens, but it won't happen to all of us. React well if you are caught in one; help if you aren't. We WILL make it through this threat, as we have others, and we will be stronger for the challenge, just as we have become in three months. Have a happy and safe weekend, all. - Mitch