Otterblog

We had a spirited discussion today about our story on Monday on the marking of the 4000th death of an American in Iraq. This comes on the heels of last week’s coverage of the war’s fifth-year anniversary (Incidentally, our cover graphic on that issue was mentioned on several newspaper design Web sites.)

The argument against these stories is somewhat philosophical, that numbers are arbitrary. The 3,999 death is as important as the one before and the one after. And is the fifth year any more a testament to U.S. arrogance/resolute leadership (take your pick) than the fourth year and 364th day.

There is power to this argument, but I think it runs counter to our nature. We keep score. We mark anniversaries, birthdays, milestones, yahrzeits, you name it. It’s a way to know where we’ve been and hopefully where you are going. To treat events of the magnitude of the war in Iraq as a day-to-day event is the equivalent of trying to look at the world only through a one-inch wide pipe. You need different views and perspectives.

Flying, writing: We had a story this morning about the resignation of Bill Diffenderffer from Skybus, the discount airline that has set up shop at PTIA. He said he is going back to writing books. Some analysts sense trouble for the carrier. I haven’t read any of his books, but here’s an excerpt from his 2005 book, The Samurai Leader.