Five years ago, I was working right here at my computer when the planes hit. I sent out one of the first breaking news alerts on that day, and spent the next two or three weeks doing things like updating casualty lists, researching numerological legends and being very, very angry.

I was angry at the terrorists, who had struck such a blow against us. I was angry at Osama bin Laden, who had masterminded the operation. And, I'll admit, I was angry for a time at all people of Arab descent. Xenophobia is not something that comes naturally to me, but it certainly was a comfortable blanket to wrap myself in to shut out the outside world and keep me from having to think of the horror symbolized by that pile of rubble that used to be the towers.

Anger unified us. With a common enemy, we pulled together and accomplished nothing less than a complete societal change. Air travel changed forever. Law enforcement changed forever. The way we think about our own safety, and the safety of our mail, water and other previously taken-for-granted things changed.

There was compassion, too. Billions were raised for relief. Millions volunteered. From lemonade stands to corporate fund drives, Americans got moving in the same direction as we never had before. American flags and yellow ribbons festooned cars, houses and and even freeway overpasses.

We began to take military action. With an unprecedented marshaling of military might, we went hammer and tongs after those our intelligence told us were responsible. We overthrew the Taliban, chased its members into the mountains and began the long, bloody (and still ongoing) task of rooting them out. We went after bin Laden, but every time the news broke that he was cornered, or wounded, or had been chased into a cave ... he evaporated.

The rubble was cleared from New York, the Pentagon was repaired, and a field in Pennsylvania became a memorial to some of the greatest citizen heroes in our history. People went back to work, soldiers went off to war and we all learned to allow more time when we went to the airport.

And now here we are, five years later. We are still at war, and bin Laden is still in hiding. Those who disagree with the actions of our government are no longer labeled unpatriotic (or worse). I even saw two cars, a Lexus and a Chevy, side by side on the freeway with "Peace is Patriotic" bumper stickers.

One thing that hasn't changed is the anger. It's still there, but no longer are we all focused in the same direction. The Toby Keiths of the world still sing about putting footwear in the nether regions of the bad guys, but there are now Neil Youngs saying some of the bad guys might be right here at home.

Our anger has become a tool, to be wielded by powerful men seeking to get us to charge off in whatever direction they point. We have grown so accustomed to being angry that we have accepted it as a normal state. It's not. Anger is a luxury, one we can no longer afford. Angry people are easily led, because they don't ask many questions. Give them something to vent their rage upon, be it a country, a policy or a leader, and they will run themselves ragged.

Democracy cannot be conducted effectively by shouting, and the shout has become the most common form of social discourse in our halls of power. Watch C-Span, and no longer do you see oratory or reasoned debate. You will get bellowing, podium pounding and hand waving that, if you turned down the sound, would remind you of a hellfire-and-brimstone preacher on the revival circuit. It seems almost that decisions are no longer made based on whose ideas or better, but on who shouts the loudest.

Of course I'm being a bit naive here. Good ideas that get acted upon have been in short supply in government for a very long time; that's the nature of the beast.

We must move beyond the anger. Yes, there are still plenty of things for us to be angry about ... there always will be. But we have to stop letting the anger define us, stop letting it be the handle by which we are moved and pushed. I'm not for a moment suggesting we lay down our arms and forgive those who have wounded us so grievously. When bin Laden and his cronies are finally caught, and I believe that will happen, they should face justice here in the United States for crimes against humanity.

But while we hunt for him, our education system is failing, our economy is staggering under the dual weights of consumer debt and energy costs and New Orleans, Bay St. Louis, Miss., and other areas of the Gulf Coast are still little more than ghost towns. There is work to be done, but it's not work for angry people. What we need are smart, resolute, deliberate people who will see the problems and take due action to solve them without rancor.

Are you one of them? Are you willing to be one of them?

Next week, we'll be back to the evil squirrels and other oddities of the world.

J. Scott Wilson