There isn't much to think about on a Tuesday morning inBoiling Springs. There's no reason to feel any different from the day before. Asusual, the sun pulls itself over the deluge of civilization, and the tired massesrise ignorant from their cherished beds. Some wash and dress ornately to make agood impression on admired co-workers or classmates while others mindlessly pilethemselves into their uniforms and cars, half asleep and numb. To reach theirdesired location they use the same roads they've been chained to for as long asthey can remember. The morning smells familiar - it stinks of coffee, prepackagedfood, bacon grease, cigarettes and a thousand other daily vices. It stinks ofroutine.

The sickeningly obvious commute to work brings no change of paceeither. Maybe they'll pass a car wreck or get pulled over for speeding, but mostlikely they'll arrive safely at their boring jobs and begin pecking away at akeyboard or filing papers. Like a flock of well-trained, idiotic birds, they'lleventually migrate to a common destination, (the water fountain or an associate'sdesk) and squawk madly about what the other birds are wearing, or what one saidabout the other and what will consequently happen. Then, it's back to thesoul-devouring quest for a buck, possibly stability, and hopefully contentment.It's all part of the routine. It's the American Dream.

The Dream iscontinually being molded day after day, by myriad blue-collar Americans whostrive for an intangible yet almost reachable goal. Occasionally the Dream iswarped or disfigured, but it always returns to its original form, and inevitablynormalcy prevails.

The American Dream is a vision, unified by onemassive, collective consciousness, and employed by countless individuals who waiteagerly for their reward. Foolishly, they squander each waking hour in pursuit ofa prize they could already have through mere existence and the exercise of freewill. Life is the prize they seek, and it is already theirs for the taking.Unfortunately, this universal and self-evident truth is oftentimes only realizedafter catastrophe, and many spend their entire fruitless lives oblivious to theback road never taken, or the girl they never thought to kiss, or the trip nevertaken to California. Every day is a Dream, and it can be molded or shaped in anyway desired.

September 11, 2001 began just like any other day, but itended with the same thought echoing in the minds of every man, woman and childwho witnessed the thousands of lives seized by a crazed emissary of anunconquerable force: death. Death cannot be escaped and it cannot becircumvented. Events like those of the 11th cannot be prevented, only preparedfor, and even the preparation may be useless if the act is executed well enough.People began to consider their own mortality on September 11th, but whether ornot they will remedy their situations is up to them. As long as life is keptsacred then the individual will be free and every breath will be the treasure hispeers chase relentlessly just beyond the horizon.