Our Bad Mood Day

Today is not a day of service.

Today is not your day of service.

Today is not My Good Deed Day.

It’s not a day to recycle more.

Today is not the day for “rekindling the spirit of service, tolerance, and compassion that unified America and the world in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.”

It’s not the day to go to the grocery store and finally buy that cloth grocery bag you’ve been admonished to keep on your person every time you shop.

Today is not the day for signing up to be a AARP Tax Aide Volunteer.

Today is not the day to volunteer at your neighborhood soup kitchen.

Today is not the day to make a “simple food donation to Project Open Hand in Columbus, Ohio [which] is dedicated to meeting the nutritional needs of people living with HIV/AIDS"

Today is not the day to “be at my county animal shelter, working with dogs that have been abused, neglected, or abandoned and helping them become loving, faithful companions.”

Today is not the day we turn everyone into little community activists.

You can do all that tomorrow.

Today is not the day to remember a tragedy.

A volcano did not explode.

An earthquake did not bring down a city.

A hurricane did not scrub beach front property.

Today is not a day of national tragedy.

What happened today was not an act of God.

What happened today was the mass murder of thousands of Americans.

Men did that.

Those people are still out there. They’re not done.

Today is not the day we think of giving back.

We didn't take anything.

Today is a day of remembering our taken, our dead.

Today it's OK to house some quiet rage, to grind your teeth, to have tunnel vision.

It's not a day to feel good about yourself for petty acts of kindness.

You do more for this country by sitting in a room and stewing for a few hours.

Harden your heart today. Go cold for a bit.

You're an American and so you're inclined to help your fellow Americans anyway or the soaking child in tsunami ravaged village on the other side of the globe. You have 364 other days this year to make it your Good Deed Day.

Don't waste this day thinking about making yourself feel better about you.