I’m now brainstorming.  Always.  Except the times I seek intoxication as relief.  And lately that’s no refuge either.  No refuge.  Hence, no intoxication.  I need more coffee.  Focus.  Clarity.  Trance-like fluidity gliding unto awareness.  I need to sink into wakefulness.  Dissolve into vigilance.  Disappear into consciousness, trans-consciousness.  I need to dream awake lucidly.  We need to dream our new reality, tomorrow’s awaiting. Tomorrow is awaiting…

What to do if…

…if there are further terrorist attacks.  That depends.  Where?  How?  How many?  But how long do you wait for full information before you decide to act?  I’m sure there were people high up in the second WTC tower just hanging around watching the horrid spectacle of the first WTC tower going up in smoke…when the second attack struck.  There were people with false optimism, some of it encouraged by authorities, who returned to their office below the towering infernos perhaps to retrieve valuables and belongings.  Or to back up essential databases to remote servers.  They were needlessly lost.  Simply, if there is an attack, get out—unless you’re sure you can really help.

So you get out.  But where do you go?  It depends.  With any attack beyond a conventional bombing, that is, a chemical, nuclear, or biological attack dispensed into the air, if possible, all other things being equal, go upwind.  Know your prevailing weather patterns and stay abreast of the current winds.  In a simulated battle involving tear gas, I once found myself in just such a situation without my protective gas mask and preserved my fighting ability by moving out but upwind of the attack.

What if you are staying abreast of the news and hear of chemical or biological weapons dispersed first in one metropolitan area, say, Los Angeles, then another, say Chicago.  Do you wait to hear of the third?  The fourth?  The fifth?  At what point, if you are working in a downtown metropolitan area, do you decide to evacuate?  Do you wait for “authority” to make the decision?  It’s a judgment call.  But if you need to get out, envision a safe haven well outside the metropolitan area and upwind—where you and all your loved ones can meet—and get out.

Communication has now become more important to us than ever.  I’m taking a radio to work and keeping it on a news channel.  I’m keeping my radio in my truck on news rather than listening to music.  I’m keeping my cell phone on 24x7 and intending on buying an additional battery and carrying that with me.  I’m intending on using this Xanga site for an emergency communication to loved ones should cellphone communications be disrupted but the internet backbone remain intact.  And I’m devising a contingency plan, should I not be able to return home, to gather at a country cabin—and devising maps to travel there over primary and, if necessary, backroads.

Fear does not drive me to these considerations.  Getting intelligently clear of danger—with no panic—is the very best thing the average citizen can do in the event of an attack.  If you have a plan, and have the necessity and opportunity to execute it, you are one less person for everyone else to worry about.  And one more person to continue…onward, to dream…other dreams,…lucidly envisioning and creating the world yet awaiting us.

Be well, be strong, stay blessed.

p.s...next blog, more carefree, promise