My sympathy and admiration...

go out to the people of London.

I woke up Thursday morning at 7:30 when my Mom called me because I hadn't returned her call from last night and she was worried. She was the first to tell me about the bombings in London today. Still groggy, I turned on the TV and was immediately greeted with the image of one of the emblematic red double decker buses with it's top completely gone. Aghast, I began to listen as the anchorwoman recounted the little information they had at the time. I told my roommate who watched CNN with me for awhile before we both went in to work.

As a journalist, I am by nature an information junkie. I constantly switched between news websites at work, and eventually listened to BBC radio's Five Live. Throughout the day I heard the updates of the casualty and fatality numbers, as well as personal accounts from people on the tube and in the area. (I know it sounds a bit morbid that I was so interested, but I'm like this will most big news stories... I've been following the Supreme Court justice nomination and the Matt Cooper & Judy Miller story equally as closely.)

Anyway, I was struck by the resilience and resolve of the British people in dealing with this crisis. Thousands of Londoners walked (sometimes 3 or 4 hours) home from work because the transit systems were shut down, and they did it without complaint. Despite bosses's blessings, most returned to work yesterday with the attitude that life must go on as normal, or else the terrorists get what they wanted.

If only President Bush had gone after the real terrorists after September 11th, then maybe these bombings and the one in Madrid could have been avoided.