Why is my every-day life entangled -- I'm being strangled, choked, stifled by civil wars, killings, diseases, horrors here, there, everywhere, in places -- cities, villages, countries I can't pronounce or find on the map.And villains, or are they friends? the presidents, dictators, old tyrants, new despots brutalizing thousands -- Hutus, Tutsis, Sunnis, Shi'ites, Rwandans, Hezbollah -- stop them? do something? do what in Haiti? what about Iran, N. & S. Korea, Israel, Palestine, Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Communist China -- an unending list of names and places that have no meaning to me except death, disaster, woe, and here I am doing nothing -- a helpless do-nothinger!
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Before we went to war in Iraq, we knew that Sunnis and Shi'ites could never ever get along, and yet millions, billions -- money and lives -- were spent and are still being spent on what -- to gain, obtain, and win what?
Most pundits agree the big loser is the U.S.
I don't know about you, but I am derailed when I see yet another unpronounceable name or strange faraway place that's an enemy or an ally, with a bunch of seriously downtrodden humans to pray for.
Sure, I can Google. I have an atlas, and the NY Times, and three TV sets educating me, mellow voices pronouncing new names and places that are falling apart, exploding, burning and desperately needing American money-money-money.
Is your head spinning? Mine is. I'm worried about Arizona, and guns, and Congress revving up various major attacks on the White House while we're fighting in Afghanistan, threatening Iran, waiting, watching to see if what happened in Tunsia, what's happening in Egypt, will inspire protesters, fire up horrifically bloody revolutions throughout the middle east. east.
When I was a child, I remember a lot of talk about "isolationist America."
There has always been a strong isolationist streak in American political life. President Washington, then Adams, then Jefferson, each of them (in different ways, for different reasons) kept us from getting entangled, and when President Madison got us involved it was almost a disaster -- so the idea of staying out of European Wars became an accepted principle for us.
Anyhow, (I'm whispering), I wish we were able to turn back the clock, ignore all the unpronounceable names and places, and dangerous spots that just might explode.
We can't. We won't. We're Daddy/Mommy/Big Brother/Uncle protector of all those "- stan" places. Gee, the only people I know, who know all the names and can pronounce them, are Obama, Hillary, Gates, (and probably Valerie Jarret).
Well ... even though I'm a do-nothinger, who still isn't sure how to pronounce things, I can pray, so I'm seriously praying that the good smart folks in the White House will keep lending a hand to the family. Yes -- these days, like it or not, love them or not, the family is the rest of the people in the world.
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2 comments:
We are exposed to too much news. We aren't mentally able to take on this much bad news. In the old days, bad things happened, but we only knew about some of them.
Keep your enemies close, and your friends closer. Don't underestimate the stupidity, greed, or distinction of any person... Be it a leader, an American school teacher, a foreign Dr, or a young family across the street. Everybody is full of surprises these days, BUT always they have been... In today's world of media coverage, we just hear about it more often... And yes, it's scary now... Just as it's always been. My brain is scattered with typical chaos from raising my own kids... Throw in being a business owner, wife, room mother, and being a living person - it's a wonder any of us are able to sleep at night.
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