On a Serious Note... Pray for my state...

[matrixrefugee]

I posted a more cheerful, even slightly giggly entry earlier, but that was only the veneer between my heart and my mind.

There's a terrorist threat looming over the Boston area: Four Chinese guys and two Iraqis have threatened to detonate a "dirty bomb" in the city. Now, my understanding is that a "dirty bomb" is essentially common explosives mixed with radioactive material. It's not an atomic warhead, mind you. Boston won't be the next Hiroshima or Nagasaki, but it will affect people who get exposed to the stuff, especially because the dust from this kind of bomb is easily carried by the wind. And it will most likely cause people to panic, so the worst damage will be psychological.

I'm trying to put my best face forward: I live about 20 miles from Boston, and there is that possibility that the dust could travel this far, if the wind was in the right (read: wrong) quarter. I tell myself, if it happens and we get exposed, there's nothing I can do about it, and I just have to live with the effects. But at the same time, I'm scared: I want to have a child (singular) someday, when the right man comes along, and I'm afraid that if something happens, and I do get exposed, that my child may have worse defects than I do. Or that my chances at having a child are destroyed.

Please, all of you, I beg you, pray for the people of Boston and the surrounding towns. Pray that the FBI can find these goons and stop them before they do anything nasty... And if the worst does happen, pray that we come through this with as little harm as possible.

Edited to Add: February 5th, 2005: The FBI discovered that the tip they got was bogus: the tipster apparantly had a grudge against the guys he implicated. I'd personally like to rip the guy's lips off and stuff them in his ears for that whopper of a lie.