i guess you've been watching the news every day like the rest of us
then you noticed the change on sunday when suddenly it went from
these distant, hazy (almost pretty) explosions over bagdad
to our soldiers being killed and taken as prisoner
our executed soldiers on film
our soldiers taken prisoner being interrogated on film
certainly the good will that the anti-war protestors have been trying to muster up
for Iraq..has been dampened by this behavior
but something else has changed
our safe, distant perch
most of us probably thought this was going to be a quick show of fire-works
and then a mass surrender
it seems clear that our government thought that
now there are dead americans
dead brits
P.O.W.s
now there is blood on the television
i didn't watch the oscars
and no, it's not because i made a stand against them
it's because i was sitting in the waiting room
in a hospital while my girlfriend
visited her sister who had taken a bad fall
it was a cushy hospital
felt more like a hotel to tell you the truth
not at all like the
rows of drunken home-less people
stabbed drug dealers
and senile old folks
that had graced the corridors the last time
i'd been in a hospital
some things really are better in new jersey
anyway
the security guard gave me a sunday times
and i laid it out on a couch
in front of the fireplace
(i'm serious here..there was fireplace in the lobby of this hospital!!)
and read the whole damn paper
has anyone in the history of man ever read the whole sunday times?
i read the current events about the war updates
i read the fine print about how it's affecting us at home
i read the real estate section to see how the economy in nyc
is affecting real estate prices
i heard about the oscars the next day from my best pal tray
to tell the truth, i'd completely forgotten them
she told me about michael moore's controversial speech
then i saw a clip of it on the news
i guess what i would tell michael
if given the chance is this
the oscars are not the time or the place to do this crap
i can tolerate the light stuff, the susan sarandon stuff
hold up your peace sign
or make some PC statement while thanking your family
it's a free country
but on a day when our guys were being captured and killed
somehow shaming them
on a television show that people all the over the world
including troops at war, are watching
seems pretty lousy
then again
like i said it's a free country
and we are free to think he was a jerk to do this
or not
sunday was a turning point in this war
it's not exciting
or cool
we are no longer seeing those "high fives"
and smiling soldiers
we will win this war
and take out a regime that
is evil personified
but when we do win
it will be hard to celebrate
looking at all the bodies and ruined lives in the mix
i saw the clip of the soldiers trying to comfort the
burnt Iraqie little girl who had been severely injured in the attacks
they reached out to her
to pet her
she looked lost and ruined
i know we are taking out a dictator who might one day
see to the rape, murder, torture, or oppression of that little girl
or someone in her family
but still
it was hard to look at her
i do wish there had been another way
i do hope this ends soon
i do hope we did the right thing
i hope
the discovery of russia selling iraq weapons
france turning their cold, (anti-semitic) shoulder on us
turkey saying no
arab countries burning american flags
north korean jazzing up their nukes
will not be the beginning of a larger war
a world wide war
a war that no one will ever walk away from smiling
feeling innocent again
