Oh, right

Last night, I was reading through the orientation handbook that the Fulbright people publish - full of handy little advice and reminders to pack your alarm clock, get your tax situation together, and to look for worn spots in your mosquito netting (there's an entire section called "Hints for Life in the Tropics" for the more adventurous types going to Africa. I really hope malaria won't be a problem where I'm going).

Anyway, in the middle of the section on financial issues to consider, the writers note that it may sound a little extreme, but people traveling abroad should make sure their wills are up to date before they leave. I paused for a few seconds on this sentence after reading it, wondering what the other grantees my age would think when asked to consider the possibility of imminent death (assuming that anyone else is bothering to read the handbook, especially the financial part). Then I thought, well, dangerous times we live in, it's an understandable piece of advice, and moved on.

And there, in this morning's headlines, was a reminder that the world is much more dangerous than any of us would like. I am most definitely unnerved by the news of the plot to blow up several planes with liquid explosives, not least because I'm making a connection through Heathrow on my way to orientation in a few weeks. At the same time, I think it's a good thing that I'm afraid because British anti-terrorism officials caught the plotters (or most of them, at any rate) and not because they didn't. That surely means that some protective mechanism (in Britain, at least) is working at least some of the time. And I can certainly rearrange my baggage so that I can check everything in London and only carry my ticket, passport, and some money, as I imagine they'll still be requiring in a few weeks.

Besides, what's the alternative? The main article in the Times this morning ended with a quote from someone (whose name I have, in a most unscholarly way, forgotten) who wondered why people don't just stay home. I can see where he's coming from, but I still don't think seclusion is the best option. I don't intend to thump my chest here and declare that if we hide behind our own four walls, the terrorists win! but that's a little like what I mean. When you balance the excitement and all the great things about travel against the relatively small possibility of being the victim of a terrorist attack, it doesn't make sense to stay home. Anyway, home for me is downtown Chicago, where I'm nearly run down by idiotic, careless drivers every other day. Heck, I could be walking under a skyscraper and have something fall on my head. People die in unforseeable ways all the time. You have to be careful, to a reasonable extent, and then you have to stop obsessing about it.

That said, maybe I'll go make sure my affairs are in order.