Paradise

A stare that tells a thousand tales.
Within it there is a longing for familiar faces, for the sights and sounds of home.
It shines from across the room, a room on a battlefield of sorts.

I have seen this glare many times before on countless faces. To spite the distance and the
heartache. No matter the horrors of war, that stare has stayed constant throughout the ages. The longing for hearth and home.

This time the source is a pair of soft green eyes. Eyes that have yet to see the fullness of the world. Eyes that have not yet seen real sorrow or gained wisdom which can only come with age.
Her lips part to form a smile. A tool she has known all to well. It has served her greatly in the past. It has lit up a room, manipulated countless men, and softened daddies heart on more then one occasion. It beams now as she reflects upon the past.

She sought adventure in the noble uniform she now wears. Excitement and a chance to make her mark she longs to be home. Far from this place, from tyranny. Able once again to make her own choices. To be the young women she dreams of at night.

Sandy hair hangs loosely from a bun. It accentuates her trim figure which has been the desire of more then one man. Almost by instinct a hand goes to work quickly putting it right. The gaze remains steady, fixed upon the images of whatever world she's created in her head. She thinks about the girl she used to be, about the dreams she still holds.

For a moment, one fleeting second I long to join her in her dream world. To be far from the sand, and the realities of war. To be with her in her perfect world of day dreams and desires. Yet I know I cannot join her. For her world is not mine, my own is different. It is of my own making and yet its paradise. As I watch the joy on her face I drift off slowly, into my own, to the places I hope to be. A simple paradise.

Perspective

I am often amazed at the ability of the modern media to truly craft a story into whatever they want it to be. The conflict in Iraq for instance, is totally different then the images portrayed by the media. Is Iraq still dangerous? Yes most certainly. Is the path to a stable government going to be a long and rocky one? Most definitely. But the idea that Iraq has no future and that Americans are being slaughtered and this is another Vietnam(laughable)is simply wrong.

What I see here everyday is a country and a people who want nothing more then to have a chance, a real chance to live free lives and govern themselves according to their traditions and customs. I see a people who are sick of bombings, and beheadings, and the like. They want the Americans to finish the job, help rebuild and go home and let them live there lives.

I would remind many of you that the road to peace and prosperity in Europe, especially Germany after world war was a rocky one. Reconstruction took over seven years and was frought with difficulties. There where some in the media at the time who said it was a lost cause, that Germany was ungovernable and that America and the other allies should leave them to their own devices. Which would likely have seen the rise of another dictatorial power that would have made more trouble on the world stage.

As it was, America did stay and finish the hard work of post war reconstruction and as a result Germany is a better, more prosperous, and don't forget a free country because of it. So, my point is just this, there are and will be problems in Iraq in the near future but please don't believe in totality the media who says that there is not great progress here. I know there is I see it everyday. In a thousand acts of kindness on both sides.

Lack of Interst in the world around them

I understand that as a Political Junkie 99.9% of people don't have and will never express even one thousandth of the interest in government or civics that a geek like me does nor do I expect it. However I am baffled by what seems to be the vast majority ( of americans anyway) who are content to walk thru their daily lives oblivious to whats going on in the world or to how there government runs and functions.
A good example of this is try asking the normal man on the street who the vice President of the U.S. is and a surprisingly large number will tell you either "I don't know?!" Or they get it wrong. Now this boggles my mind, how can intellegent people be content to walk through life uninformed and with no desire to understand the institutions or people who govern there lives and make policy reguarding there future.

Frustration at the heat

As one who was born and raised in the contiential United States I alway thought that I new how to cope with the heat. However now that I am far from the amber waves of grain and the purple mountains majesty, and in a part of the world that experiences extreme temperatures ( on the high end). I must say that I was not prepared for the extreme temperatures and that getting used to them is still a struggle to spite having had over six months to become a custom to them. I must commend the native people at the ability to function with such ease in the stifling temperatures.