Get up in the morning, shower, shave, get dolled up, stop for my latte, go to work and then repeat the process in the afternoon. Five days a week we work, weekends off, and so it goes, month in and month out. Many of us are in a routine – some would call it a rut. Nevertheless, it’s a routine and as a result, we have been lulled into a sense of complacency with our routines. We even go to work the same route every day. We are soft when looked at by an outside element hostile to our society.

We just recognized the anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and the empty field in Shanksville, Penn. We, as a nation, were in shock by the attacks, but with the exception of the Homeland Security Office and heightened security at various travel venues, we are all back to our regular routines once again.

Should we all have sand bags around our homes? Should we wear steel pots with color-coordinated flak jackets to work? No, but we are a soft people. By that, I mean we are not, as a people, very military-savvy when it comes to long-term defense against aggressors such as the ones that pulled off the attacks on 9/11. I think those who would do us harm sense that softness and are more than willing to take advantage of it.

Should we live in fear daily? No, but we seemingly do not have an alternative plan for our actions should something happen to alter our routines. We bray like a homesick jackass when anyone even mentions things like gun control, but we can’t keep vigil, as a people, on a continuous scale for further aggressions against our way of life. Should we live like the Saudi Arabians and not allow anyone into our country unless invited? Tourism would really take a hit if we did that and you would hear more braying, for sure.

Should we post sentinels at the entrances to our cities and search every vehicle wishing to enter our municipalities? That wouldn’t fly either. Most cities in our country are happy to allow the various police agencies to handle the security our cities need. True, they are up to their eyeballs in alligators trying to keep a lid on our own garden variety criminals without having to police outside aggression as well.

I think the real defense against outside aggression is the fact that we all have that famous routine I mentioned earlier. It may be complacent, but in that routine, we all know what is considered normal and, if we keep our eyes peeled, we will know in a heartbeat when something out of the ordinary is happening. The key to making this valuable is that when we do see something out of the ordinary occurring, we report it to the proper authorities.

It is true that we have our share of weirdos in this country without having foreign agitators present, but if we keep our eyes on the lookout we will see bad guys when they are present. Every walk of life in our country likes its own level of normalcy. When even the lowliest American scumbag sees something out of whack according to his routine, he is likely going to report that fact to some agency that polices our society and thus will nip a situation in the bud early on.

Those who report those sightings or think they overhear something out of the ordinary and report those things are really true patriots on the home front. The rule of thumb should be: When in doubt, report it. We all want to stop those who would aggress against us. We all are a team, despite our many differences as a people.

Larry Wilson is a 50-year resident of Sparks and a retired elementary school teacher. You can contact him at lawilson-16@aol.com.