Today I have a lot of writing to do, which is a little funny to me because I had paperwork up the wazoo yesterday! It seems that this is my lot right now.
Settling in to my new job has been stressful, it is completely different that what my heart tells me to do! It is meticulous, repetitive and rigid. Saying that, it also gives me a time to research, take care of things from the move and get us a little closer to being settled in this new environment. It also let's me write.
Right now I find that I am very distressed about our political foreign policies. If you know me, you know I am NOT a politico. I want to be left alone in my garden, loving people the way I was taught to, and enjoying life...barefoot if possible. But I firmly believe that we the people of this great country are being voted in to a war that the populace wants no part of.
Today I decided, after reading a message from a friend, that I would drag myself away from my hippie non-involvement and try to frame what has upset me so much. I sincerely feel that you cannot judge another for ANYTHING, before you are above reproach. Since that is an impossibility, no one person is perfect, and certainly no government is either, we need to "take care of our own house" before laying waste to someone else's.
The US has been at war since Sept. 11th, 2001, I was 21. I am now 32 and think of Sept. 11th like many may think of Pearl Harbor Day. It was the start of a change from peacetime to war, a total shift from how life had been the day before to how life will be going forward. I deeply and intrinsically object to the idea that war will be a part of my life that I cannot change going forward.
I reject the idea that in this great nation I can't say NO to a decision to start a new conflict on a passionate appeal with little factual evidence of responsibility. I will not blithely accept that my one day children will be born into a citizenship of war. What I want for my children, my nieces and nephews, and my friend's children is not to grow up hearing about a new conflict, a new obligation for our troops, or status on the current deployments!
My young life was peaceful with shocking points of tragedy; the Challenger disaster, Desert Storm, 9/11 - and removed tragedies like hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Up until 9/11 life went back to normal after each shock.
I don't want my life and the lives of our children to have a lifetime of battle with moments of peace.
The pattern our government is developing is a dangerous one. One where instead of the security and prosperity of it's own people, it is more concerned with the "rightness", and responsibility of other nations. The government has a duty to it's people, to keep them safe and secure, and to uphold international laws with that same thought in mind.
I guess that means that I don't feel safe, I don't feel secure, I don't feel obligated to go charging in to a situation without the support of allies and without the assurances of who is responsible for this atrocity on civilian life. We are not, as a nation, obligated to be the "bad guy" and "discipline" another country for how it cares for OR abuses it's people.
People are tired, over-extended, out of work, and emotionally beat down... I see it every day. A new conflict out in the world will not help that, but staying out of it, CARING for each other, nurturing OUR economy, and cutting waste from government as a gardener pulls weeds (no matter how pretty) from the earth... that just might help.
...Nature girl
