Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: A new life perspective

Friday, Sept. 28, 2001 | 9:46 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

IT IS STILL about perspective. It is also about people.

The divisions amongst people in this country have long been wide and varied, especially when it comes to economic and social issues. When placed side by side with almost every other country in the world, though, whatever divides us from one another seems miniscule by comparison.

As Americans, we love and cherish our liberty. The freedom to do basically what we wish is in marked contrast to most other people around the globe. And, yet, few countries spend more time arguing about the quality and quantity of those individual rights than those of us who have so much more than most. I think it is genetic.

We also have the highest standard of living. And, yet, there is hardly a day or an hour that goes by that one group of Americans isn't arguing with another about something or other that has at its heart -- money.

And the list of issues that we conjure up hourly to complain about grows without surcease which, in itself, is a symbol of the great latitude we have to express our concerns, exalt our differences and, generally, exercise our right to complain bitterly about what, in the end, is not very much.

I don't suppose I am any different from others in the United States these days who have been trying to find some perspective in the wake of the World Trade Center disaster. Somehow work, play and plans for the future have taken on a little different meaning as we watch sorrowfully as the cleanup crews continue to carry away the rubble that was once the signature skyscrapers of the world's most well-known skyline. Buried deep within that scrap, of course, are the shattered lives of thousands of Americans and others whose families now must deal with often inconsolable loss.

All that came home Wednesday morning when everyday life caught up. I called a friend to catch up on the news which, other than the constant barrage of what, if anything, that terrorist thug and his string pullers are doing lately, has pretty much foreclosed normal life discussion.

I learned as I have always known that personal tragedy heeds no timetable and often strikes when least expected and usually when people are most vulnerable.

In the midst of nonstop television pictures of those hijacked airplanes flying into the World Trade Center, constantly talking heads trying to makes sense about matters that defy common sense, and the demands of our own economic and social challenges that threaten Las Vegas in ways never before contemplated, I learned that my friend's 18-year-old son was struck by an automobile and killed while he was going to work.

I found myself with nothing to say. What words could express the hearbreak I felt for him and his family. I thought of the thousands killed two weeks ago and, yet, his son's death was, somehow, more painful, more personal.

What had happened to him is a parent's worst nightmare. And every time it does happen it makes all of us think how fragile life is. It also gives us the perspective we need, again, to understand what is really important in this life.

On the way into work that morning I listened to the radio talk show windbags excoriating someone for something or other in the quest for ratings. It all seemed so meaningless, which it is, a fact that became so much clearer in its meaninglessness.

I looked at the headlines which talked of layoffs in Las Vegas -- people losing jobs because our nation was attacked and for no other reason. I wondered if a company's bottom line in the near term is really that much more important than a family's mortgage payments or food bills.

And I visited with those seeking charitable contributions and, yes, even help for budding political campaigns, I questioned my own priorities when the needs of attack victims and their families and the needs of our own employees seem so much more pressing.

But, mostly, I considered the issues that kept us active in our individual lives before the World Trade Center was attacked and it became crystal clear that we have spent far too much time arguing with one another on matters of very little substance. Acting like spoiled children, if you will.

That's the perspective I have drawn from the past two weeks. Is yours much different?

And what would you give to be able to act like children again?