The Real "Gulf War"

A victim of an LRA rebel attack on February 21, 2004. (Photo: Peter Busomoke/AFP-Getty Images)

So I was having a conversation with my sister (age 35) recently. The ongoing saga is that while we love each other very much, she gets more and more conservative with each passing day of her life (I knew it was bad when my NRA-card-carrying father said that my sister put the original "C" in "conservative"...)

She had just seen the movie Hotel Rwanda (which, to my shame, I have not yet seen...this weekend). She loved the movie, but made very quickly the comment "We are sure lucky to have George Bush as our president, because he is at war to protect us from the terrorists like the ones in the movie, who hate Americans." [sidebar: I have learned that it is best not to comment, and quickly changed the subject. Not to be ignored this day was my sister, who repeated her comment. My response: "Yes, we Americans sure are hated in the world."]

Given the fact that GWB's administration and policies have created a gulf like none other in decades between US citizens - not to mention that between the US and the world - it is virtually impossible to discuss this rationally with my sister, and people like her. There are - every day - the most heinous crimes agains humanity imaginable occuring in the African continent. Yet, where are we going to "liberate" the people?? To the countries with OIL (see previous post: Western Oil Greed Trumps Genocide Concerns.

I would give a lot to be able to take some of the "sheep" following their Dear Leader, their women-hating pastors, and away from their status quo comfort zones (remember that most of these people have never owned, nor will ever own, a passport)...let them see us through the lens of another country. I have been fortunate to have spent extensive time in all of the continents except for Australia and Antarctica (although I got close to the latter...). My sister's understanding of the world is night and day to mine... we grew up in the same corn-and-beanfield surrounded house in Indiana, we had the same parents, but she has never seen the world; has rarely spoken in depth to a citizen of a different country.

The day I started traveling was the day that the gulf between my family and me began to widen.

Perhaps, instead of spending our efforts on No Child Left Behind as a means filling the pockets of Bush Bro Neil and ensuring a steady stream of soldiers for pre-emptive wars, and teaching children in schools to kow-tow to a standardized test, we should be issuing a passport to each 13 year old and sending them to different countries to see what is really going on...oh, wait - our Dear Leader doesn't want the future generations to be able to think - or understand...ignorance is bliss.

Enough said, my friends, or nearly so: We are fighting the real "Gulf War" right here on our own soil...and the gulf widens daily.