Silly Monkeys
Last night while I was in the gym, I had an interesting experience. I began my warm-up exercises and stretches to TOOL's "Right In Two", which happened to be the first thing on my MP3 player when I turned it on.
First, allow me to comment on the caliber of the American gym I am lucky enough to have access to. This is a NATO base, and each of the countries has their own little sections or compounds, each with their own facilities like gyms and stores etc., and I have seen not only the Dutch soldiers, but the Canadians, British and a couple of Slovak guys coming into our gym to do their workouts. Whether this is permitted I'm not sure, but we're all fighting the same fight here so I don't care. It does however, speak to the quality of this facility, I think.
The warm-up room is about 20'x40', equipped with a stretch of mats for floor-based exercises, various calisthenic and core strengthening equipment, and punching bags of every shape and size.
Also, for those of you unfamiliar with TOOL's "Right In Two", it's a beautiful and peaceful song remarking from the perspective of angels, looking down on mankind, wondering why we choose to use our divine gift of intelligence to manifest violence, and how confused we are as a young species on how to use our intellect. This is one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard, both lyrically and musically, as it speaks about our potential as intelligent life to move past our primitive instincts and find a higher power under which to collect, develop sense of community and share.
As I was stretching and the quiet beginning of the song played, I laughed to myself at the contrast as the peaceful tunes being emitted from my headphones were drowned out by the heavy, chaotic and repeated THUDs of the speedbag someone was beating the snot out of.
I realized at this moment the irony of infusing the subtle strength of this peaceful song into my warm-up, using it's higher message to sway the anaerobic burn of my core strengthening techniques, while there were trained killers pouring their blood sweat and tears into violent exercise around me. It kind of put some perspective on the different kinds of 'strength' that different people demonstrate.
I wandered off into thought about this and proceeded to the main room for cardio fun time, as I call it, which is 3-4 miles of 'uphill' treadmill sprints and endurance training, sweating out the bad and breathing in the good while pounding 180 bpm drum & bass at full volume to keep the mind occupied.
Luckily the Taliban shoot their rockets at us fairly early, around 1900, so our workouts aren't interrupted. That's what we call bunker fun time : P
As I finished the lifting portion of the workout and returned to the warm-up room to get a final stretch in, I noticed a guy that I worked with in housing, a super cool Bosnian guy named Nedzad, that I'd never noticed in the gym before. I went over to say hello and we talked for a second, and when I asked if he did 'any of this' in his workout (and started wailing on the punching bag) he replied, "No, I'm a peaceful guy" and proceeded to list off the non-violent exercises he includes in his workout.
I was revisited by the irony of that realization I'd had some 90 minutes prior, and about the complimenting peace that violence can seem to bring, and the gears started turning all over again.
War.
It's enough of a contradiction that war is seen to be the only answer to bring peace about in times of violence, that you have to fight fire with fire, without actually being in the middle of it all thinking about the perplexity.
I had always winced with a sarcastic smirk before when thinking about that concept, that violence is the only thing to combat violence. I had my little opinions about the war and the Taliban, none of which was ever rooted in any fact, just following the speculations about U.S. meddling and profiteering and all related topics. Since working with the locals out here however, I have come to be good friends with reality, and am undergoing quite the perceptual shift because of it.
I would always mess with Mohammad, one of the locals from Kandahar city, a frail-looking strange little Afghan, before the day that we were cleaning the bunkers out and he shared something with me that brought my words to a halt.
I realized that, with the way the benches were arranged in this particular bunker, they were perfect for doing a ghetto version of a sit-up or crunch. I moved that the locals and I do some, as I had just quit smoking and had an excess of energy. Hazratullah hooked in and did a few, Shida being older declined, and then Mohammad attempted a few. When he couldn't get a full rep I encouraged him to try harder and he stood up and pulled up his shirt. Centered in his torso, stretching from the top of his chest to below his belly button, was the gnarliest scar I've ever seen on someone. He went on to explain how random violence by the Taliban in his city landed a rocket in his living room, where his 3 brothers and him sat in a circle. He was the only survivor, and this story led to a thread of stories about the Taliban killing and threatening and torturing families that didn't rise to their cause, oppression in its purest form, making life unliveable yet being unable to leave.
Think about a world that has obtained an astonishing level of peace, then imagine a group like Al Queda being introduced. How is such a threat to be tamed if not met with violence?
Having the reality of it in your face, rockets whistling over your head, allows you to see the situation clearly. These people need help, and anyone who followed or researched the breakup of Yugoslavia can concur to the necessity of intervention and security for the peaceful people of the world. Evil will always have good in its crosshairs, that's just the way it is, and we will never get the entire world to agree on one thing.
Violence is evil, and it's necessary, but only to erraticate itself. Is it the proverbial "necessary evil"?
Millions of Iraqi people get to breathe in some of the comforts of life because of our intervention, instead of worrying every second of the day whether they will be alive at the end of the day. The war will never be over here, and that's sad, but the fact of the matter is that no matter how much some companies have capitalized on or exploited this war for their own benefit, even companies like our government, and above all the bullshit and heresay and behind-the-curtain conspirating, we have made a difference in these people's lives.
As always, we are "The Land of (Freedom at a Price)"
Shower me with your opinions.
-peace-