I've been working on a railroad

Well, not really, but I have been pretty busy. I'm working on a Lenten Bible Study that I want to try to get published. My not-husband, the one I'm separated from is very sick, maybe deathly ill, and that's got my really worried. We've got a great relationship, we just can't live together. Sunday I came down to my parents because I needed to take my dad to the eye doctor early Monday morning, and I've been here since then. Monday I applied for a job -- the application took me 1.5 hours. But I got called back today!!!

I've been reading some disturbing stuff about the war - like that the soldiers are discouraged to hear that the American public is not supportive of the war. I hate to think of the soldiers losing morale because of the rhetoric coming from the US. I'm not saying every soldier is a shining example of virtue, but you can't paint every other soldier with such a wide paintbrush. I've written this before, but if we leave now, there will be a humanitarian crisis - and I don't understand why the peace protestors don't see that. We must strive for peace with justice, and in this case we need to use arms to achieve that.

I'm not saying we should've started this war. And Bush lied. A lot. But withdraw support for our troops at this juncture is criminal.

Bad News for Kosovo

and perhaps some prophecy for Iraq.

Serbian election unsettles Western hopes - International Herald Tribune

Serbia wants the land of Kosovo, not the people on it. Kosovo, the land, is where most of the Very Big Battles have been fought in Serbian history. They identify with the land. The people on the land -- the mostly ethnic Albanians -- they could do without, and they already tried genocide on them once in the last decade. The only thing stopping them from doing it now is KFOR and the chance they'll get bombed again.

With these elections, it shows that nationalism doesn't just go away. Bush thinks you can just "do democracy" and they'll suddenly be all set for fair and equitable government. I don't think it works that way. The people in Serbia want one step away from Communism. They want their dictator Milosevic back. (too bad he's not available). We might be better off spending sometime figuring out why that is... why that situation exists all around the world, and what we can do to effect change in that behavior.

Probably someone's already written about that. Might need to head to the library.

Saturday Thoughts

I've been really struggling with the issue of the war lately. People want us to withdraw and go to Darfur, but the reality is iof we were in Darfur and genocide were happening in Iraq, they'd be saying go to Iraq. Look at Kosovo. KFOR is still there and they dare not leave, because it's a tinderbox of religious hate. I think it's hard for some Americans to understand that level of hate and fear. We have our whacked out groups that hate, and they get it, but the average American doesn't get it. You can't even make analogies. It's likeLutherans hating United Methodists because they take their heritage from Wesley instead of Luther himself. And the Lutherans would declare the United Methodists not real Christians. And along the way people would get killed, because their would be misunderstandings about what the Methodists believed. Eventually, it would all just fall apart and it would be a wrest for power. More killing. But that analogy only works conceptually, because the chances of Lutherans and Methodists fighting over something is ridiculous -- because nowhere do they have power to fight over.

In Iraq, the Sunni and the Shi'a have a great deal to fight over, because whoever wins gets to persecute the other side. It's a matter of honor. And if the Shi'a manage to win you can bet two things will happen: 1) the Sunnis will get theres for the 20 year reign of terror they had on the Shiites and 2) there will be an alliance with Shia-strong Iran. The Sunni Shiite issue is starting to color incidents in the rest of the Middle East, in places like Lebanon, where the government is Sunni, but Hezbollah is Shiite, and they have maneuvered themselves into a favorable position for elections.

How do we get peace among terrorists? What would Gahndi say? What would Martin Luther King, Jr. say to us? Would they say get our people out and let God sort it out? Are we to turn the other cheek to terrorists?

This are the things I think about. Luckily now I'll have lot's more time on my hands to think about it.

Here's something a soldier wrote. He just died in Iraq from an improvised explosive device. He died with three other men. Read what he wrote. One thing I know, is I don't want to turn into a person who just thinks about this stuff.

2LT Mark Daily

Good Stuff for Friday

I've spent much of the day reading. Reading a book, reading Want Ads and doing research about Iraq. It is weighing on my heart so much. Here's something I found during my wanderings. Enjoy and pass it on. Thanks to BLACKFIVE.






The first is a homegrown version of a video for the song, the second is an official video.

"I had three of the four guys on the ground that died that day. I was so heartbroken after I passed out all the flags at the memorial service. I was just thinking about the bagpiper, who is also a retired SEAL captain, standing there literally crying the song out of the bagpipes. We were all so sad. When I came home my wife said I should write down some words. Tim called me and asked how I was doing. I told him I wrote this poem and he said well let me have it. We went back and forth on the phone and decided to make it a tribute to everyone from World War II to the present." Navy SEAL Commander Mark Waddell

This song is the result.

Share.

The Yob That Wasn't

I got let go from my job the other day. I'm still in the shock and awe stage, with a slow build of anger at God.

Three months ago my husband left me. Now I lose my job. I was living paycheck to paycheck to begin with, now I have no money to pay my rent at all. I'm feeling very bitter and betrayed.

A Yob that Might Suck

You know those little strips that they use for the products at McDonald's? Plastic, with translucent lettering.

Imagine if it was your job to have to send those little suckers out to every McDonalds in the US.

That would be a little too tedious for me.

Mudpie

Today I had a short To Do list. I also got evaluated on how well I respond to calls. I didn't do too bad. In fact, I got the impression they were trying to find things to say. What they did say was useful.

I still hate the job, though.

Regardless, I made it through the day. And I managed to do it without obsessing about the ordination process. It's going to take me 5 years. Obsessing for 5 years is not on the plan. I do enough obsessing on a day to day basis. I don't need an over-arching obsession.

Tonight it is a writing night. I've got the iPod hooked up to the stereo and the laptop ready to go. My main problem is that I write very concisely. I've been praised for that in the past but now I'm writing fiction... I need to be rich in the details. So my plan is to write the whole thing out, then go back through and read it and think through where the details need to go. That's the way I've gotta go for right now.

Alone on the Prairie

I work in Customer Service for a technology company. I work from home. For about half the day I answer questions by email from users of our products. For the other half, my boss gives me a list of things to do, like write to do articles, do research on our users, or other stuff. My boss and I don't get along. We have a very different approach to writing and customer service in general. Actually, everything was going pretty well until they hired the other person on my team who is practically perfect in everyway. That coincided with my husband leaving me and my subsequent several weeks of living in a fog. Yeah, it affected my job performance. But you'd maybe think there'd be some compassion. No. Decidedly no compassion. For anything. Ever. My dad had surgery, no one asked how he was doing. I left work early one day to go to the ER with an asthma attack -- not one word. I got bronchitis -- no hope you feel better.

So I know I'm just a body.

Over Christmas the boss was gone so we had to make our own To Do lists. No biggie, I muddled through, got a lot accomplished. Now it's after Christmas, the boss is back... and I'm still making my To Do lists. My cohort is not. I am trying desperately to figure out what the hell I'm supposed to be doing. Is it me or is that just weird?

Moving Day

Today's a brand-new day for me and blogging. For about a year I've been really lazy about keeping up with my blog. And I've missed it. So hopefully with a new home and a renewed sense of purpose, I'll stick with it.