Invisible Warriors

My generation grew up in the "duck and cover" world. It was not imaginary. We drilled to see how fast we could get under our desks to protect us from the big explosion. I say it was not imaginary because both sides had the big weapons and were enemies. It didn't take very much imagination. There was the Cuban Missile Crisis. There were spy planes shot down. There we were squeezed under the desks where we could easily picture the mushroom cloud over Manhattan. We could calculate how long it would take to reach us as we scrunched up under our desks in the Bronx.

That era works itself out and a new war of nerves begins - this time the enemy is here. This is the time of the invisble assassins. It could be anyone. It could be you. It is the time of real body snatchers. You can't place pins showing the enemies placement.

The comforting idea that you can fight them over there instead of over here is illusionary. And we won't stop fighting 'til it's over over there - doesn't work anymore.

Somehow - I don't know how it happened - we managed to slip back into the dark ages.

The movies from the 50's reflected the cold war. There were all these evil old aliens landing all over the place in clunky costumes - but American know-how usually wiped them out.

The commies were coming. The commies were coming. But they left with a whimper.

There were spies back then - but they weren't sabatours. They weren't blowing things up over here. They were passing papers back and forth. Rotary phone calls.

We invented the atom bomb, and the cell phone. The enemy is trying to connect them.

What I'm trying to get around to is that this too is a war of nerves - like the cold war - but there is no place to duck and cover. Even that illusion is gone.

It is all about intelligence, i.e. spies. It going to be an era of the invisible war. An era where you see the explosion as the tip of an invisible system. Paranoia must run rampant. The air will fill with coded signals.

The automated warning announcements on the subway went into a loop: "Ladies and gentlemen, please watch your belongings. If you see something suspicious, please notifiy a police officer. If you see something, say something. Don't keep it to yourself."

It just kept playing. "Ladies and gentlemen..." Archaic salutations from the Victorian age.

"Ladies and gentleman, an invisible enemy is plotting to release poison gas and kill as many of you as they can. Have a nice day and thank you for riding with MTA transit."

We grew up with the idea that the world could be blown up in an instant, but we still found time to play. Today's kids will grow up with the invisible enemy - but they will survive and find ways to have fun. That is one of the miracles of creation.



Magic Waters, Battery Park