Sweet land of liberty and loss.

Longtime readers (bless you) may know that I really don't like to talk much about September 11, but I am always compelled to write something to commemorate the date. It may be about constant reminders; it may be about idiot conspiracy nuts. It could be about grief, a feeling we are all getting pretty strongly with all these hurricanes and wildfires walloping our country as I write.

We were in Manhattan that day, my wife was downtown; I had to walk half the length of Manhattan, but we got out alive and unharmed.

A decade and more later I happened to be killing time in Hoboken, New Jersey, and was down by the waterfront when I got this shot on my old flip phone:

The tall building in the center is, of course, the Freedom Tower, officially 1 World Trade Center, under construction. This must have been late in 2012, judging by other construction photos. It took for freaking ever to get the damned thing started, but once they got all the cats herded and the plans drawn up and the foundation secured it went pretty smoothly.

I'm not sure what I want to say about it. I don't even remember why I was in Hoboken the day I took this shot. Although two more years would pass before the building opened, I do remember it made me happy to see the tower's structure in place. That's why I took this lousy shot on my crummy phone.

I'm less optimistic about the future of the country now than I was in 2012 or 2002, believe it or not. As I mentioned yesterday, I fear our culture is so suicidal that we may not be able to pull back from the brink. Recently the citizens of Houston showed us what a functioning society looks like when it takes on a crisis, but I do not see that kind of spirit at large in the country. We had it in New York on September 11, 2001. We do not have it in New York now. Everyone hates everyone and everyone acts like a jerk. No enemy could have inflicted on us what we have inflicted on ourselves.

Religious bigotry, I call it!

So I went into the local kosher deli and demanded a ham sandwich.

"I'm sorry, we don't serve ham," said the snarky, smarmy, prejudicial deli owner.

"WHAT?" I said. "I'm a customer and I demand a ham sandwich."

"We don't even have any ham here."

"Well, you'd better get some!"

"I can't!"

"But you're not even trying!"

Finally he admitted the truth: "We can't have ham here! It's a kosher deli!"

"So what?"

"So, we're not allowed to have ham!"

"Says who?"

"Our dietary laws forbid ham."

"Ooooh, so your ancient and crusty old religious rules, invented by some toothless impotent old white men, force you to discriminate against ham sandwich eaters, is that it?"

He shook his head like he was tired, but I knew he was just brimming with hate. "Listen, mister, I'd like to help, but one thing I can't do is give you a ham sandwich, all right?"

"Sure!" I said. "Haters gotta hate, right? How about a lobster roll, or are you hating on that too?"

"Say," he said, now suspicious, "are you here just to pick on us? You must know shellfish isn't kosher either."

"What I know is, you'll be hearing from the ACLU!"

"The what? Hey, fella---"

"You get me my ham sandwich or you'll be sorry!"

"But... what about religious liberty? You can't force me to give you ham and lobster!"

"The ACLU doesn't care about religious liberty anymore!" I cried, playing my trump card. "No one does! You're discriminating against me, and I'll sue! All the courts and the entire weight of the federal government stand behind me!"

Now he looked nervous. "Why should all those people care what kind of business I run?"

"You're impinging on my freedom. Is this what we fight and die for? We supposedly spread freedom elsewhere while losing it here?"

"You're in the military?"

"Well, no," I said, realizing my rhetorical error. "I'm an adherent of the Sciencey Church of Atheism, and we believe war is an evolutionary throwback. I'm a conscientious objector."

"Wait a second---so the government couldn't make you pick up a gun if an enemy was marching into town, but it will use force to make me to give you a ham sandwich?"

"I see what you did there!" I spat. "This isn't about me!" (But of course it was. Me! Whee!) "This is about your prejudice! There will be consequences for your bad thoughts!"

"Listen, please!" he said, waving his hands. "There's no need to get excited. Look, there's a Subway down the street, and a Blimpie two blocks east; they'll give you all the ham you could want. I'll call them and tell them to make something nice, okay?"

"You're a bigot!" I screamed, really getting into it now. Oh, you should've seen me. "Where's your lunch counter? I'm going to sit there until you give me a ham sandwich! Just like we did in the old days in the south!"

"You did? You don't look old enough---"

"Ageist!"

"But I would have served the black people! Just not ham! It's against my religious law! Isn't there any tolerance for religion anymore?"

"You're the intolerant one!" I hollered. "First we're going to get the gym teacher to burn this place down. Then we're going to get Apple and Walmart to refuse service to you. Then we're---where are you going?"

"I'm closing the store," he said with a sigh, turning his sign around. "Probably forever."

Another victory for me! Me, the ACLU, and all the others who put down this so-called religious tolerance and enforce conformity!

But strangely, when I went to demand a ham sandwich at the Halal place down the street, no one came to back me up.

Freedom of religion. Feh. Whoever heard of such a thing? Like something bad could ever happen without freedom of religion.