Homework for the Overactive Brain

Today's Quote--"Happy birthday to me, Happy birthday to me..."

Sunday, October 20, 2002

 

Today's quote--"Too many pieces of music finish too long after the end"--Igor Stravinsky
There are a lot of things that go on for far too long. Somedays homework seems like that...today is going to be busy with homework. That's all right, though, since I slept in really late, I feel pretty good. I just had a thought I wanted to get out before I started writing papers and reports.

This whole war idea being spouted out by my government is terrifying to me. I see it as the demand of a rather disliked president to try to give himself some popularity. There are so many factors, I know, that are going into this, but I seriously doubt that one of those is the safety, wellbeing, progress, and happiness of the Iraqi people, or of the people in the Middle East at all. The offical spokespeople talk about freeing them from Hussain, but really? I don't think that's their main objective. I understand that most people don't think like I do, or if they do, they do something about it instead of whining to no on in particular. I'm not one of those conspiracy theorists, who thinks that everything my government does is part of their effort to destroy or take over the world. I know that there are some people who truly think that war will solve problems, that a war like this will help people. I try my best to see and understand that perspective, but after studying war, in my L.C. "Memories of War", in Peace studies (well, what I've learned so far), and from people I've met who've lived through war, I am mostly blinded by the suffering and misery that war creates. War changes people, nations, states, and most of the time, not for the better. This whole 'war on terrorism' is one of the examples. Things change rapidly, and often people don't recognize the negative effects until too late. War rarely solves the problems it was started to solve, and in the fighting of a war, many many more problems come about. Apparently studies of history have failed to enlighten some people to this fact. Yes, occasionally war does solve the problem, but was it a good solution? Was there anything else that could have been done? Did it create lasting reforms...solutions? What other things did affect adversely? *sigh* Yet another reason I dislike politics. People do things for reasons that seem so incomprehensible to me, I just can't seem to find a single shred of logic in them. I know there are avenues I can pursue, things I can do, to protest this new war movement, but...I have no excuse. I'm not registered to vote yet, I don't join these things, I don't write to my congress people, I don't call up the whitehouse and complain about it. Do I have any right to complain? I don't know. But I will anyway. I just want to develop a life, enter into a life, where I can be useful, helpful, and promote peace and understanding. If that means that at this moment I focus on my studies, that I try to learn as much as I can about the world, its peoples, and ways to make all that work together, instead of going to public rallies, writing thousands of letters to congress people, or otherwise protesting war, I guess I'm okay with that. I know there are other people who aren't, but it is my life, and how I feel about it is what matters...right?

GL 2:28 PM