INSTIGATING LOGIC
Patriot Day
By JARED PUTNAM

This Monday is "Patriot Day", marking the five year anniversary of the "9/11" attacks.

During the day, Americans are encouraged to hold appropriate programs and activities, observe a moment of silence, and fly the American Flag at halfstaff from sunrise to sunset. Motorists are also asked to keep their headlights on during the day.

The September 11 attacks changed the world more than any other event in my lifetime. The fallout from that day left thousands of families without loved ones and took away any false ideas that we might have had about our security.

While terrorism was once a problem that we thought of in reference to Israel or some other foreign country, we now know that it can happen to us at any time. Even though it may sound cliche, freedom really is not free. We need to honor the memory of those who lost their lives on that day, and recognize the fact that this is a threat that we will likely battle for decades to come.

Croc Hunter dies

This week the famous Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, died a tragic death after being stuck in the heart by a stingray barb.

If you have ever watched Irwin wrestle crocs or wrangle snakes on tv, you know he was a lot of fun to watch. I suppose there is even something to be said for dying doing what you love. At the same time, whenever I watched him, it always seemed like it was only a matter of time before something like this happened.

Even though some wacky reptile-obsessed Australian may not have direct relevance to Union County, there is an important moral to the story just the same.

I guess the short version is, if you play with fire, you will get burned.

Some people are natural born risk takers in life. Irwin was definitely one of them. But there are consequences for going to any extreme in life.

A lot of people were surprised by Irwin's death, saying he seemed almost invincible.

But if you live life on the edge, chances are you will eventually fall off.

If you are careless behind the wheel of a car day after day, eventually you are going to get a ticket or cause an accident.

If you never pay attention to what you eat, you can't be too surprised when you wind up with heart disease.

In the case of Irwin, if you put yourself in contact with deadly wild animals on a daily basis, eventually you are going to find yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time.