Another anniversary, another threat

Whenever I see a headline similar to this one (left), all kinds of questions and an increasing amount of cynicism come to mind.

Ever since the 9/11 attacks, potential threats of terrorism have been a part of our lives, particularly on key days -- Christmas, anniversary dates, big event days, etc. Yet, these stories about possible attacks are almost always vague, which makes me wonder why the information is released by the government in the first place.

What are we in the public supposed to do to remain on guard against a "specific" threat that we know nothing about? At least this time two cities, Washington and New York, are named as the apparent targets, but that still doesn't give me much to go on.

Let's face it, most Americans are oblivious to what is going on in their own neighborhoods these days. Expecting people to look for vague clues of possible attacks just isn't realistic, particularly when the government and the media have cried wolf every other month over the last decade.

Frankly, if we want to remain relatively safe and healthy, most of us would be better served to pay more attention to our driving and what we eat than to worry about another 9/11-style attack on U.S. soil. There are people in government charged with keeping us safe. They need to do their jobs and we all need to control what we can to make ourselves and our communities safer -- not from global terrorism -- but from distracted drivers, random crime and environmental dangers. We need to pay more attention to our kids and less attention to reports about things we as private citizens can't do much about. We need to be more observant about the stuff we have some power to influence by electing competent, intelligent people who will work for us, not against us.

As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, I hope that our government officials are doing their jobs to prevent any attacks this weekend or in the future. While I refuse to hide inside my house because of vague warnings, I do recognize that the job of keeping America safe from lunatics isn't an easy one.