The Divided States of America

Its been a while since my last entry. So much is going on in NYC that its taken me some time to distill all of my thoughts and emotions into a coherent message. For those of you who do not know, NYC is hosting the RNC- Republican National Convention. Strange that it should be the host city since NYC is rabidly liberal and everyone should have known that the event would be the center of much unrest in the metro.
I guess my story begins with my arrival into the city Monday afternoon at the 33rd street station in Midtown. I walked up the stairwell to the ground level to find a ghost town.

The streets were eerily empty, almost like that scene from 28 days later. The only people on the street were uniformed policemen and they were in full gear. Sweat started to form on my forehead, I got a chill down my spine as I felt like I was someplace I should not be. I tried to hail a cab, but the streets were blocked off, I totally forgot about the convention and what it would mean to my commute. I hurriedly walked up the street heading towards work. To give you an idea as to why I was suddenly hit with this feeling of fear, let me illustrate my situation like this- I work on 39th and 9th ave. The Republican Convention, a major terror target is located at Madison Sq Garden on 34th and 8th- just five blocks away from me. Time Square, another major target of interest is on 42nd st. three blocks away from me. The Port Authority, and Path Trains are also targets and they are my only means to get home. If anything should happen, I would be in the middle of all the chaos. Looking back the sight of all the police officers in uniform should have relieved some of the tension, and it did... Until I read the papers. "Two suspects arrested after attempting to bomb the D train at 34th station" I'm glad that they got caught, but I'm a bit scared that they even tried given the amount of security. All afternoon long the restaurant was quiet, but the streets were busy. Just blocks away angry mobs numbering in the thousands had come to disrupt the convention and air their disdain for the Bush administration and the Republican party that backs him. Police precincts were calling all uniformed officers from the field to quell the protesters who were getting violent.

News of officers being attacked by hoodlums in the crowd spread all over the news, fueling much anxiety among everyone. Anarchy was taking form and the NYPD seemed underhanded to control it. NYC had to call in the National Guardsmen to help out the police whose resources were being strained. Everyone around me was afraid that there may be an all out riot. Protesters getting out of hand and looting local stores and setting cars ablaze. I was afraid for another reason. I was afraid of that one terrorist that could have snuck passed the lines and into the crowd because the security was too busy watching the protesters to watch for the real threat... the fanatic terrorist who is out to kill Americans. Quite possibly me.