Making ‘Baby Steps’

Who ever decided to name Ms. Sara Malkin’s column “Baby Steps” hit the nail on the head. Her column [two weeks ago], “Dancing in the shower,” was the most utterly worthless piece of garble that I have ever read. She made absolutely no point and offered no perspective or slant on the human condition other than the fact that she was naked. I shed a few tears of heartfelt sorrow for her deceased radio to be sure, but her first column made no sense other than this: she was in the shower, she was naked, her radio fell to the floor, it broke and she was sad. The end. Oh yes, and she was naked.

Her second effort was indeed a baby step (and a small one at that). She did have a decent intro and a fairly good transition to the point she was trying to make. I’ll give her credit for that; at least she was trying to make a point this time. But her point is off the mark for two reasons:

First, in case you didn’t notice, Ms. Malkin, our country is in the middle of a recession. By giving money to victims’ families in exchange for forfeiting their right to sue the airlines, the government was not only offering the only compensation it could for the families, but it was also trying to avoid the disastrous long-term consequences a 5,000-family class action lawsuit would have on our fragile economy. Such a legal action would have only plunged our economy deeper into recession.

And second, I’d like to rebuke her notion of “seeking justice through compensation from the airlines that had a role in this tragedy.” Of course the airlines had a role in this tragedy, but so did the policymakers and intelligence officials who didn’t see this coming, and pretty much every person who ever complained about the pre-Sept. 11 delays caused by security at airports. And, oh by the way, the terrorists themselves contributed a little. If someone steals your car, do you blame the automobile industry for not making better locks, or do you blame the thief? Most of the people truly responsible for this tragedy are either dead, being detained at Gitmo or hiding in caves. If you want to play the blame game, Al-Qaida is the group to point the finger at — not the airlines.

Now, I cannot possibly comprehend the feeling of loss suffered by the families of the victims of Al-Qaida’s assault on America, and I am definitely not saying that you can put a price tag on a person’s life, but the fact is you cannot undo what has been done. What our government can do is try, and I emphasize try, to address the financial hardships suffered by these families by offering them monetary compensation and the prospect of a recovering economy. As for “seeking justice,” the men and women of our Armed Forces are doing everything they can to make sure the terrorists are held accountable. And while pointing out the sacrifices they are making for our great nation would be a whole other can of worms, I would be willing to bet they don’t have radios in their showers either, Ms. Malkin.