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I used to think it ought to be James Earl Jones, but....

2007-06-18

Good morning Boys and Girls.

There are times, not often, mind you, but there are times when I feel like I'm still a kid.

All I have to do is look in the mirror to quickly remind myself that I'm a fifty year old guy who certainly isn't getting any younger, and that I'm far from a kid these days, but still, sometimes, without that mirror? -I'd just not have a clue that I'm not eighteen... Or twelve... Or seven.

My sense of curiosity is still there, tempered as it has been, with a healthy dose of cynicism due to reality poking it's way into my life on a regular basis over the years. However, my overall outlook is still one of hopefulness and thankfulness, I think, or at least it is most of the time.

I'm convinced of a few things...

I'm convinced that no matter how it's phrased, one of these days, "The War On Terror," will be seen for what it is, which is really just a simplistic way of saying "we don't like it that some people don't like us," but like us, they think "they're way" is "the only way," and some of them too are willing to kill to prove it.

One of these days, someone is going to come along, on one side or the other, who will be able to articulate that killing one another does nothing but forward that flawed premise in a way that will click with enough people that maybe, just maybe, a breath will be taken; a pause may take place; a realization may sink in; and all of a sudden, extremist Muslims will see that killing themselves and others may not really lead to however many virgins waiting for them on the other side; that people here may realize that targeting other cultures for not thinking the way we do does nothing but bolster their hatred of us, and in some disturbing but understandable way, to them, justifies their actions.

When I was a kid, if we saw someone as a bully, we did all we could to eventually take them down, and when it wasn't possible to openly beat the hell out of them, we always found a way to humiliate them, which was easy because they were always so loud about what they thought, that figuring out what was dear to them only took listening to them for five minutes.

Am I saying we're a bully nation? No. Not especially. But I am saying that we're seen as a bully, and that makes us vulnerable, especially when we do things to bolster that image.

I have a feeling that this will a moot point ten years from now. Someone with a strong clear voice is going to emerge from somewhere in the world who will be heard. Out of six billion of us, someone will have the right words - the right voice - and the right motives - that he or she will be listened to by enough of us to move us all forward, at least an inch or two.

After all, even baby steps can get a kid to the coffee table - eventually.



Be good to everyone.

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Barnabus (2007-06-18)
WE need the War on Terror, and the War on Global Warming push that is coming up in July, to take away a lot of our freedoms, and push the One-World-Government theme! "A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it." -- George W. Bush, July 26, 2001 "There ought to be limits to freedom!" - George W. Bush, commenting on gwbush.com web site May 21, 1999

Witqueen (2007-06-18)
And as the way of the world, if if makes sense, and means change..they will be silenced.

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