I am a soldier. I am also a husband. I am also an American. I am also a thinker. I am also a doer. I am also ready to scream.
So we as a people, not as a nation, but as a worldly people are getting dumber and dumber. As our world grows smaller so does are attention. As more of the planet is open to us we become more and more blind to it. We stop seeing the big picture. We put our head into so deep in the sand we can't even take a fucking breath.
I hear at least twice a day that people can't wait until all my brothers in arms are home on U.S. soil. I agree with them, but I also see what needs to be done. Each country that we are in, we are in for a reason. We are there to provide an essential stability to protect our own borders.
You see Iraq is an old nation, it dates back to the first written laws of Hammurabi. The Tigris and the Euphrates are considered by most to be the birth place of civilization, and in monotheistic thought, it was the very location of the Garden of Eden. Not just the Christians, but the Jews, and the Muslims believe this. That being said it is our collective birth place. Yet now it is suffering from dreams of past grandeur as it slips further and further into an age of dementia.
Leaving is not the answer. Building schools is. Leaving is not the answer if we want the chance to dream of peace. Hate mongers can move that historical pride to their means. They can paint us as the new Satan. They can blame us for the fall of Babylon. Yet we continue to back despots and the status qua in these nations and we are so ready to wash our hands over it all because of bad press.
I think the problem is that peace as the concept is a myth in the worst sense of the word. There is such a thing as peace but not the fuzzy bunny huggy bear BS that people want us to swallow. People talking about nature, and embracing the earth and making love not war. Well then your concept of nature is different then mine.
Who bitches about a lion when it takes down a gazelle. Snakes eat rats. We eat cows. Things kill things to live. Bunnies kill plants if you really think about it. And they kill each other, in a watership down kind of way. So violence is part of the true concept of peace. True peace is not about hugging shit out, but about finding a balance. Peace is having a choice, and choosing to use it. Peace is about providing the best you can for you and your family. Peace is having a job.
You can not, and should not remove strife, or hardship. It is challenge that sharpens our minds and bodies. It will never be removed from our equation as long as we are still willing to evolve and be a factor in the food chain. If we want peace with the middle east, walking away is not the way to do. We have to take the time to educate them, and let them see there is something other then the status quo. They have to learn where they are now in the global community.
We have to afford them the same choice that we have. They have to become part of the global community, or at least be given that option. Otherwise we are just going to have a long line of political tribal leaders setting themselves as dictators or religious leaders. We will continue to send our troops to die and nothing gets fixed. So the question is how far are you willing to go to embrace even a temporary peace. Even if that peace is just for us.
Now we can enjoy at least the ghost of peace if we just leave, after these ten long years. Yes it has been a decade of fighting in Afghanistan. Ten years today, wow huh? I mean the young soldiers going over now were only eight when this kicked off. Many of them watched those planes slam into the towers and had no concept of what was going on. Tales of a third grade nothing,..
Yet we talk about leaving after all this time. The war is over right? Why shouldn't we just let them sort their own shit out and pull our troops out? Well lets see, history often repeats itself right? Those that do not know their history are doomed to repeat it. Well look to Mr Charlie Wilson's war. We pulled out of Afghanistan as soon as the Russians did. What happened? Oh yeah we came back in force and stayed for a decade. So pull out, its a great method of birth control right? Happy Anniversary OEF.
So we as a people, not as a nation, but as a worldly people are getting dumber and dumber. As our world grows smaller so does are attention. As more of the planet is open to us we become more and more blind to it. We stop seeing the big picture. We put our head into so deep in the sand we can't even take a fucking breath.
I hear at least twice a day that people can't wait until all my brothers in arms are home on U.S. soil. I agree with them, but I also see what needs to be done. Each country that we are in, we are in for a reason. We are there to provide an essential stability to protect our own borders.
You see Iraq is an old nation, it dates back to the first written laws of Hammurabi. The Tigris and the Euphrates are considered by most to be the birth place of civilization, and in monotheistic thought, it was the very location of the Garden of Eden. Not just the Christians, but the Jews, and the Muslims believe this. That being said it is our collective birth place. Yet now it is suffering from dreams of past grandeur as it slips further and further into an age of dementia.
Leaving is not the answer. Building schools is. Leaving is not the answer if we want the chance to dream of peace. Hate mongers can move that historical pride to their means. They can paint us as the new Satan. They can blame us for the fall of Babylon. Yet we continue to back despots and the status qua in these nations and we are so ready to wash our hands over it all because of bad press.
I think the problem is that peace as the concept is a myth in the worst sense of the word. There is such a thing as peace but not the fuzzy bunny huggy bear BS that people want us to swallow. People talking about nature, and embracing the earth and making love not war. Well then your concept of nature is different then mine.
Who bitches about a lion when it takes down a gazelle. Snakes eat rats. We eat cows. Things kill things to live. Bunnies kill plants if you really think about it. And they kill each other, in a watership down kind of way. So violence is part of the true concept of peace. True peace is not about hugging shit out, but about finding a balance. Peace is having a choice, and choosing to use it. Peace is about providing the best you can for you and your family. Peace is having a job.
You can not, and should not remove strife, or hardship. It is challenge that sharpens our minds and bodies. It will never be removed from our equation as long as we are still willing to evolve and be a factor in the food chain. If we want peace with the middle east, walking away is not the way to do. We have to take the time to educate them, and let them see there is something other then the status quo. They have to learn where they are now in the global community.
We have to afford them the same choice that we have. They have to become part of the global community, or at least be given that option. Otherwise we are just going to have a long line of political tribal leaders setting themselves as dictators or religious leaders. We will continue to send our troops to die and nothing gets fixed. So the question is how far are you willing to go to embrace even a temporary peace. Even if that peace is just for us.
Now we can enjoy at least the ghost of peace if we just leave, after these ten long years. Yes it has been a decade of fighting in Afghanistan. Ten years today, wow huh? I mean the young soldiers going over now were only eight when this kicked off. Many of them watched those planes slam into the towers and had no concept of what was going on. Tales of a third grade nothing,..
Yet we talk about leaving after all this time. The war is over right? Why shouldn't we just let them sort their own shit out and pull our troops out? Well lets see, history often repeats itself right? Those that do not know their history are doomed to repeat it. Well look to Mr Charlie Wilson's war. We pulled out of Afghanistan as soon as the Russians did. What happened? Oh yeah we came back in force and stayed for a decade. So pull out, its a great method of birth control right? Happy Anniversary OEF.
Truth be told, I was only partially agreeing with you up until the point you mentioned our pullout with Russia. I had learned recently that Kandahar Airfield was built by the US and Kabul Airfield was built by the Russians. Maybe even around the same time? There is an awful lot of history to this land and we are very much a part of that history from the 20th century to today. There were infinitely better times for Afghanistan. Only 30 years ago it would have been unrecognizable to us today.
ReplyDeleteI need to study more on the history- you are very correct in the importance of knowing it. I already know we inadvertently had a direct hand in the rise of the Taliban's power. I need to learn the details of that and how that may translate into a responsibility to correct that error not only for ourselves, but for Afghanistan for our part in it's fall from grace.