Shankistan
Someone asked me an interesting question today at the end of the mission. "What do you think of all this?"
Of course I didn't really have an answer to end all answers. My reply was about as limp as a wet noodle. "Well, I dunno, it is what it is." An Army answer I know; scary.
I thought more about it this morning. My friend posted an interesting, introspective opinion on the heat in the middle-east. She finding that she is self-aware of the world that surrounds us; violence.
This being my third tour, I'm finding that I'm in the opposite corner. The corner of apathy. I'm worn down. Tired. Uninterested. Some days I wake up and I just don't really care anymore about other peoples problems. Its not so much that I don't care, I just don't care to take the time to put energy into thinking about it.
I think about Hoot in Black Hawk Down. "It doesn't really matter what I think. Once bullets start flying, politics and all that shit go right out the window. All that matters is the man next to you." Spoken like a true apathetic asshole.
Maybe I'm here, in this situation. This mess. Because of the apathy of others. People who were unwilling, uninterested, unable, and uncaring enough to get rolled over by a bunch of crazy maniacs. Until it was too late to do anything, left abandoned on the side of the road. Like a dog hit by a car, left on the shoulder. Dying. In agony. Crawling a few more inches with its last few breathes of life.
Someone comes along and picks them up. A samaritan.
I need to win the battle over apathy.
Of course I didn't really have an answer to end all answers. My reply was about as limp as a wet noodle. "Well, I dunno, it is what it is." An Army answer I know; scary.
I thought more about it this morning. My friend posted an interesting, introspective opinion on the heat in the middle-east. She finding that she is self-aware of the world that surrounds us; violence.
This being my third tour, I'm finding that I'm in the opposite corner. The corner of apathy. I'm worn down. Tired. Uninterested. Some days I wake up and I just don't really care anymore about other peoples problems. Its not so much that I don't care, I just don't care to take the time to put energy into thinking about it.
I think about Hoot in Black Hawk Down. "It doesn't really matter what I think. Once bullets start flying, politics and all that shit go right out the window. All that matters is the man next to you." Spoken like a true apathetic asshole.
Maybe I'm here, in this situation. This mess. Because of the apathy of others. People who were unwilling, uninterested, unable, and uncaring enough to get rolled over by a bunch of crazy maniacs. Until it was too late to do anything, left abandoned on the side of the road. Like a dog hit by a car, left on the shoulder. Dying. In agony. Crawling a few more inches with its last few breathes of life.
Someone comes along and picks them up. A samaritan.
I need to win the battle over apathy.