I want a reason for the way things have to be
During the ridiculously long wait for my bagel at Einstein's the other day this man sparks up a conversation with me because he noticed I was wearing my Obama tank-top. His son is deployed in Iraq, and I sort of got the impression he supports the war, as much as he wants his son home. He definitely was not militant about it though. I made my thoughts known about that, as well as the U.S. role in the Russia/Georgia conflict. But I started off with..."well, tell him thank you for me" (which the dad very much appreciated). Afterward I regretted it, because that particular cliche seems to imply the troops are working on my behalf and in my favor. I realized I should have said... "tell him I apologize". I apologize for, some days, not giving the war a single serious thought. I apologize for being weak, doing nothing, or if you prefer, NOT ENOUGH about a murderous injustice being carried out in my name and at the troops' expense, for being so deeply embedded in the very System that sent him to Iraq that I don't believe I could live outside it. His son is bearing the burden that belongs to all of us. With that connotation, I guess 'thank you' applies too. It's a false choice, one none of us is free to make, of loss of privilege versus culpability in such crimes as the war in Iraq. I don't believe the world has to work that way. I don't want to remain a world leader if that means occasionally having to invade and devastate lesser nations in order to keep the machine running and making friends with murderers and dictators "in our economic national interest."