So there it is. From the “normal” post-Clinton days to the depths of national tragedy to the clearest signs of our nation’s emerging post-9/11 faultlines all in the span of just four weeks. I didn’t leave much out — just a few redundant bits. I started writing a lot more (and more regularly) afterward but about a more diverse and quotidian set of details. (You can read all of the journal entries in one place.)

Yesterday, five years afterward, I couldn’t help but feel extremely let down by my so-called leaders who have failed to find Osama bin Laden, failed to eliminate the Taliban or stabilize Afghanistan, divided Americans more than any other time since Vietnam via a new war, and squandered all of the goodwill that we garnered through our losses. Unfortunately, most of my fears about retrenchments on civil liberties have come to pass. Fortunately, al-Qaeda and others haven’t attacked us since — leading John Muellers to wonder about the myth of the omnipresent enemy. Which is not to say that our government was able to keep us safe from snipers, anthrax attacks, or floods.

Now I look forward to a time when the government doesn’t use our very personal experiences with the Sept. 11 attacks as a cudgel to get its political jollies.