Hiya Ed,
Yes, it has been a long while! For the most part life has been treating me very well and I certainly hope the same can be said for all of the HTPers out there in cyberspace! I've enjoyed much of the political discussion on this thread the past few months. I haven't read all of it but it's given me plenty to contemplate. Both sides of the aisle need to show a lot of improvement, imo, in both approaches to this war, as well as forward looking solutions. I think we all need to stay critical and question what we see and hear! Too many complacent people, again, on both sides of the aisle.
There is a significant difference between questioning the moves made by our leadership and undermining their efforts. One of the most difficult issues I have with this administration is they appear to be so secretive, as well as appearing to come off "holier then thou". When they pound their chests saying "you're with us or against us", it becomes increasingly difficult not to question their actions!
At the same time, there are questions about their stances on civil liberties which are the exact opposite of the way they want to be treated while in office. They appear to want it both ways and I, for one, question the validity this approach!
Even if one assumes that we went into Iraq for all the wrong reasons, we can't abandon the situation we've put ourselves in. We must not conclude our actions there until there is a government in place which will lead the Iraqis out of the desperate situation they've been in for the past 25 or so years. We have a similar obligation in Afghanistan. We owe it to ourselves, the people over there, and to everyone else in the world to see this thing through as effectively as possible.
We have let the Arab world shout "down with America" for too long without forcing them to look just as critically at their own government's actions. We need to question and confront their view of America and of their own situation. We need to stop being hypocritical in our statements versus our actions and we need to require the same from them. We need to keep the light shining brightly, not only on ourselves but on the rest of the world.
Our Earth is becoming an increasingly small planet and, like our thread's name, we ALL need to have greater tolerance of the people and cultures that reside here. However, we all know that the time for certain tolerances has past and that the time for action arrived! |
