Deja Vu

We all live our lives on a ledge, all the time. We may not expect it, and we may not be able to anticipate the end, but it is true that it doesn't take much to push us over the edge.

When we've finally taken the first steps on a path, the road is being created, if it hasn't already been paved. I think of the US presence in Iraq. Were in so deep that we can't seem to get ourselves out without being guilty of abandoning the tasks we began in the first place. But remaining in Iraq -- that isn't a viable option either -- unless we remain responsibility and admit our culpability in the events that have transpired and which will continue to play out.

This war is scarily similar to the Vietnam/American War. We start it, then we leave it when things get rough. We now do the same thing... we push and push for this war, in which innocent lives are taken (conspicuous consumption of human life!!) under false pretenses. Now that we've messed things up so badly, torn up the land, interrupted their lives on both sides of the war, etc., we want to get out...

We need to bring our troops home, without a doubt. But we cannot in good conscience insert ourselves -- our politics, our policies, our war ideologies, our culture, etc. -- into the lives of the people in Iraq and then easily and quickly pull out as if our presence(s) were negligible. We were there, and we made a huge impact -- whether good or bad -- in that area of the world. We cannot in good conscience then just leave our messes for someone else to clean up.

Yet, how many more lives can we commit to this war? How many more innocent lives will we sacrifice before we realize we are wrong and that we must become better stewards of our resources.