sisyphusshrugged | the values divide

one way of looking at things

I guess it really starts to bug me when the soldiers swarm into my home and pin me and the remnants of my family to the floor and then start shouting at me in a foreign language. Gosh, that kinda gets my goat. A bunch of guys from India or something, Hindus, I guess, running all around what used to be my house. It's not that I don't respect their mission - I do. I just wish I could sit 'em down and say "Hey, I'm not a terrorist, you probably want my neighbor in 15B - he's always seemed a little weird, and he goes out at night a lot. Oh, and could you maybe help me find my leg?" Not that I want to rat on my neighbor, but if the problem is Lenny, it's kind of my patriotic duty to let people know. But as I said, I can't really talk to the soldiers, and that puts me in a bit of a pickle.

And, I confess, around that time I tend to get a little resentful. I wish I could stay more positive about the whole thing, but I've always had anger issues, and sometimes I backslide a little. Especially when I can't find that little rubber "stress ball" I keep on my desk because my desk was last seen flying through my study's window in a few hundred burning pieces. That's usually when I try to make a little joke, like, "Well, now I'm going to have to re-alphabetize all my files." You know, just to lighten the atmosphere. But underneath, I'm not laughing. And the foreign soldiers aren't getting the joke anyway.

But I guess it really sort of gets tough to keep my sunny side up when they drag me away for some questioning. Sure, I want to do my civic duty, but with the whole business of the burning house and the blown-up family, I'd just rather be at home at times like that. It's a little selfish, I know, but there it is. I mean, in theory I'm pretty psyched about my freedoms being protected for me and my remaining children. But in practice, well, I'm not a happy camper. Yes, I know it's not the soldiers' fault - it's Lenny's, or whoever's. Intellectually, I definitely know this. But I still find myself getting a little hot under the collar about the whole thing.

the "values" argument

Colonel Gary Brandl of the United States Marine Corps commented: "The enemy has a face. It is Satan's. He is in Fallujah, and we are going to destroy him."