My husband has been working for 90 days without a single break in the flypaper country. His job includes luring terrorists to his turf so they avoid attacking us on our soil. Am I proud of his profession? Absolutely. Does the nature of his job sometimes make me disproportionately angry at the world? Certainly.
The purpose of this website was for me to find a way to try to understand the world we live in. I never said I was good at it. I don't think I really grok anything at all, but I know what I believe in and stand for. And, yes, it's pretty black-and-white, us-vs-them. I do think that there are certain situations where grey area is not acceptable, and I don't think I want to compromise on those areas.
I didn't start this blog to argue with people; in fact, one of the reasons I started it was so I could avoid arguing with real people in my life when I began to notice I disagreed with them on just about everything. I started it as a place for me to think out loud and work through my own confusion about the world. But this week it's gotten me in some arguments. Some of them I got myself into, and others I was dragged into unwillingly. I don't want to be in any of them, to be honest. I don't want to argue with people; it just distracts me from my own quest for grokking.
The majority of the time we're not going to change each others' minds. It's funny that we even try. I didn't have to read both Den Beste and Daily Kos back in 2002 to figure out which side I was on; I already knew from the first day I entered the blogosphere. However, within that common ground, I am open to exploring new things that I haven't considered before. I have been thinking a lot about Donald Sensing's post on crossing the line. I still don't know what I think about that, and I have been trying to grok it for two days. However, no one is ever going to make a dent in my beliefs that 1) the war was justified 2) Americans are not evil/stupid/imperialistic or 3) there are clear-cut good guys and bad guys in this world. I have some beliefs that no amount of discussion will ever change, and there are some people I will never be able to convince with my beliefs.
All of a sudden, I don't even feel like caring anymore. I need to look at the puppy for a while.
Posted by Sarah at May 16, 2004 12:07 AMTo grok or not to grok that is the puzzle.
I can try to help you in some small way.
Your husband has my best wishes and we all here hope that safe at home is his next stop.
There are a lot of things that can not be understood, but it is always helpfull to say how you beleave and not have some one put you down or want to start a fight.
Have Fun
Play Nice
Smiles
Mike Harper (BEING)
Veteran's Help Network
http://www.veteranshelp.com
Veterans Helping People and People Helping Veterans.
Sarah,
I could say that there are some benefits to arguing with people, but that's not the point, and you already know that.
So, I will say that for every argument you have, there are at least 5 people* out here who are incredibly relieved to have found someone on the internet who voices their thoughts so clearly. When you say that you started this blog so that you could avoid arguing with people in real life, many of us are nodding along in sympathy. And, many of us are thinking that we come to your blog to remind ourselves that there are people out there who do think like us--and it saves us from having arguments when we run into them in real life.
You don't have to care about that, of course--in my philosophy, you only have to care about how you feel. But I hope you know that there are so many more people--most of whom, I think, are silent--who do agree with you, wholeheartedly, and are glad that you do what you do.
You go girl.
*There could be many more than 5 per, I just wanted to be conservative. :-)
Posted by: Carla at May 16, 2004 04:47 PMI too was struck with the Reverend's post on "Retribution." It was sobering and undeniable.
There have been a lot of events that sparked some very strong emotions these past weeks (the tsunami effect) but there are a lot of people who have suddenly discovered blogs and are grateful for them.
As Carla said, they too are working out their views as well as their feelings, and that's a good thing.
We're new to the notion of being at war, and trying to learn a lot pretty fast. No one said it would be a cakewalk.
Have faith. I know that sounds dumb, but that's how I feel.
And keeping blogging for your own reasons. One of the joys of blogs is the honesty with which so many people express themselves.
Posted by: Debbye at May 18, 2004 06:28 AM