Impatience and the American Way
I detect a bit of boredom with the ongoing war effort. Not enough progress being made fast enough; too many discouraging reports of civilians dying; Our Guys haven't caught this bin Laden character and given him the .50-caliber shower he so richly deserves. We don't remember that World War II took four years, or that we were in Vietnam for practically 20; all we know is that in the last War, we started it in prime time and had it over before the local news was on. We like neat endings. I don't think we're going to get one here.

I'm just as anxious as the next guy to know how the story ends. My mind drifts back to 1992, and the biggest news story of my life up to that point. Three women who disappeared from Anytown without a trace. No sign of a struggle, no sign of foul play, no sign of any sort of robbery attempt. They were just gone. The Daily Bugle ran a daily graphic with their faces and bios: "Missing, Day 3; Missing, Day 5; Missing, Day 249." We finally pulled the plug on it after Day 365. It's been 9 1/2 years. They're still missing. Every day, we all wondered how that story was going to end, where they were going to be found, etc. We knew there would be an ending; there always is, right?

I'm kind of straying from the point, because I was so enamored of that reference to the case in Anytown. It's been a while since I thought about that one. The point is, I don't think we're going to get a clean end to this thing. Somebody else came up with this line, but I like it, so I'm going to steal it; I'd credit it if I could remember who wrote it: "It's going to be the Cuban Missile Crisis for the rest of our lives."

Makes 13 days kind of seem like 13 seconds, doesn't it?