I am glad I am getting close to my "Appointment in Samara"*. I was struck by how the Bomb in Boston was like the Bombs that go off every day in the rest of the world. I am astonished that so many are shocked. It has become such an ugly world
We
have now lost wars in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, our treasure and people are exhausted, and yet we still
think we are the big Johnson in the world.
"It ain't Necessarily So"
The Piper will be paid and we cannot go about playing these reindeer games throughout the world without paying some dues.
*The title is from a book by John O'Hara and is a reference to W. Somerset Maugham's retelling of an old story, which appears as an epigraph for the novel: A merchant in Baghdad
sends his servant to the marketplace for provisions. Shortly, the
servant comes home white and trembling and tells him that in the
marketplace he was jostled by a woman, whom he recognized as Death, and
she made a threatening gesture. Borrowing the merchant's horse, he flees
at top speed to Samarra,
a distance of about 75 miles (125 km), where he believes Death will not
find him. The merchant then goes to the marketplace and finds Death,
and asks why she made the threatening gesture. She replies, "That was
not a threatening gesture, it was only a start of surprise. I was
astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him
tonight in Samarra."
