Remember those 100 degree days in June? Now it's July and we've had a week of rain. It's chilly in the house this morning...had to put on a sweater. Seems backwards, the weather does, but what the heck, all this rain is great!! Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
Everything seems backwards lately, not just the weather. This morning on CNN the Bagdad reporter was telling about Shiite militias who are stopping everybody on the streets and asking for ID's. If the subject's last name is Suni, they shoot him (or her, or them). "Bodies are piling up", he said. How can it be that, after we've saved Iraq from its brutal dictator, everything is way worse for the average Iraqi citizen (especially the average Suni one...)??
And then there's the Gaza Strip...in order to retrieve one soldier, Israel kills a bunch of Palestinians?...yes, I know, there are those rocket attacks, too...but I find it so troubling that it's always ordinary citizens that are so massively, so obviously, the victims when governments bring out the war machine.
During the Vietnam era, the solution to war that I backed was to have the two (or more) government leaders involved in conflict get into the ring and personally duke it out...no gloves, no weapons, no rules. Kim Jong Il and Bush, one-on-one. Or Bush and Saddam Hussein. Or Bush and Osama Bin Laden. Or Bush and Fidel Castro. Or Bush and Hugo Chavez. Or Bush and Vladimir Putin (that one's coming)Or Bush and ...oh, gosh...can't remember who's in charge in China....(it's uh, Who Gin Tao, isn't it?...if it was spelled right?) well, whoever it is...Bush and him.
Hey,wait. Does it seem like Bush is a kind of cantankerous cuss? Here in the world of mental health, we should be offering our leader some conflict resolution skills...or maybe an anger management class! Maybe he needs an anti-depressant...depression can make you irritable...or is it paranoia? Maybe an anti-psychotic, then. Or anxiety...what about that...we've got stuff for that, too. Really, anyone who can't get along with his peers any better than this, has issues. You know it's true.
Anyway back to my earlier solution: with my "you guys go ahead and fight it out" plan in place, the citizenry would naturally elect either a big burly meathead who could stomp all the other leaders (Schwarzeneger?) into the mat... (We'd win every fight! Go USA! Problem solved!)...or a very peaceful person who tended to resolve conflicts long before they approached the need for "war" (the Dahli Lama?) so there wouldn't be any fights. Knowing humanity, we'd swing between the two types every generation or so, depending on who was available to run for office at election time. Bush is too old for a fight, yet he isn't "peaceful", either...not a good choice for "leader".
War is insane. War, is, after all, two groups of people who, having come to some impasse or other, resolve their issues by sending all their young citizens out to kill all the other guy's young citizens. What's insane is not just the leader's perception that slaughter and destruction will improve the situation, but the remarkable cooperation of the slaughterees. We all just go along with it. No problem...send our kids over...and our neighbors' kids...our wives and husbands...into "War". And human beings have been doing "war" since the dawn of history...over and over....if it was a matter of "learning", we'd have learned by now.
It's probably genetically coded population control. We really have no choice, we just think we do.
Backwards.
Hey! Thanks to Facilities Mangement for the water on the patients' courtyards! Grass is returning! Ironic, don't you think, that the sprinklers have coincided with the rain? Don't forget to mow now and then! You are appreciated!
Comments since last post on "4th of July".
2 comments:
Ah Gadde, I wish you luck in the world you have entered which lies on the other side of the looking glass. Problem is, I'm not sure which outcome constitutes good luck. Anyway, I know you will fight the good fight.
As to the war, I would imagine you have had no comments because really, what more can be said? It's pretty well agreed among rational people that it's the wrong war (if there can be a right war - maybe WWII) at the wrong time, in the wrong place for the wrong reason. I read in this mornings paper that the prime leader stated "I want our troops to understand that not only does the country support them, but...we'll win. It's in our national interest that we win. And we will." Huh? What are we winning and how will we know when we get there? My personal preference for preventing wars would be that all of the children of all those instituting or voting for wars be the first deployed and that they be deployed in forward postions. I think if the twins were to be riding point in Basra or Sadr City the situation might change. Anyway, enough of a rant. On a happier note, in August I will finally be leaving the Land of Oz and those who inhabit the Puzzle Palace. I will check in from time to time from around the world.
Poor Richard
I think the water for the courtyards coincided with the budget for the new fiscal year. During June CMS and warehouse orders for patients had to be submitted for approval before they could be filled. However, personal appointments during work hours by SW's & a Psychologist on our unit were freely indulged in - as usual.Something's backwards here.
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