An increase in World Suck today

I am a big fan of The Brotherhood 2.0.
(If you aren't familiar with John and Hank Green, check them out here:
http://www.sparksflyup.com/2007/04/april-16-brotherhood-of-traveling-pants.php .)

John and Hank work towards decreasing "world suck" in many different ways. From Eco-geeks to Peeps to sock-puppet theatre... these Nerd Fighters are doing a good job. Today, there was a giant jump in World Suck. The Green brothers couldn't combat this level of world suck unless they had an army - a psychic army at that.

I didn't hear the news about Va Tech until my husband came home, worried about our friend's son and his former student who is now a student there. We frantically made calls until we reached Paul's mom who confirmed that he is safe and unharmed
The rest of the afternoon was spent in a trance-like state. I had my laptop on my lap and the TV on, and I typed work reports while listening to the accounts of the events in VA.

I was reminded of other sad days in my life when I didn't have any personal attachments to those involved in tragic events, but my heart still ached for our nation. January 28, 1986: the space shuttle Challenger blew up. I was a freshman at Ursinus College. April 20, 1999: Columbine. February 1, 2003: the space shuttle Columbia blew up. And then of course, there was September 11, 2001.

I think back on those days as World Suck days. I realized that many, many times, our nation mourns together. We join together in our sadness. But when do we ever rejoice together? When do we all celebrate 'World Doesn't Suck' events? What national events ever cause the level of happiness across the whole country? I can't think of any spontaneous happy events that cause our nation--in every size and shape that we come in--to stand up and cheer.

Holidays cause us all to be happy, but we don't all share the same holidays, with two exceptions: Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. Those aren't spontaneous, but they are pretty happy, usually. I propose that we celebrate 'World Doesn't Suck' day on the Fourth of July. (On Thanksgiving, we're usually too stuffed to stand up and cheer. Or stand up and do anything.)

I had a nice blog entry planned out for today, about how there's more of me online now... (No, I didn't post nudie pictures anywhere, and no, I didn't get published. At least, not by an official publishing company. I published my web page today. A modest, boring little website, but my own website nonetheless. See more of me here: www.PattiLBrown.com ). That's all I can say about that today, because of World Suck.

My heart goes out to all of the families in Virginia who lost loved ones by the hands of a madman today, and to the community at Virginia Tech as they mourn their losses and try to move on.

-PLB