Each morning, I tune into my favorite information source and face the dilemma of taking the bad medicine that was chosen for me by my loving and completely sane President. Each day, I get to hear the horrid details unfold before my ears of the destruction of lives going on in Iraq. My first impulse is to turn it off and bury my head in the sand one more time to stay at a nice safe distance away from my fellow human beings. I can cozy into my world of fantasy/reality t.v., my 4th grader’s homework and the ins and outs of my baby’s developing world, or I can take my bad medicine of the news I have a hard time swallowing. I choose to take my medicine and pray, yes we Liberals do pray. I know most Republicans think we hang from the chandeliers and chant to the Goddess of the Corn, but we only do that every 3rd full moon of the millennium. I take this medicine because people are losing their lives, limbs, and sanity for us there. Families are being torn apart, devastated and changed forever. Children are losing the most important and influential people they will ever know. I owe it to them not to bury my head in blind complacency.
We need to know the gory details of what is happening each and every day, so we can put human beings with real lives in the forefront of our minds. Hopefully if enough of us do this, we can keep ourselves from repeating this disease that creates our need to take this bad medicine. For the most part, I do believe that people are aware of the severity of this situation, but I also know that it is easy to tune out when too much has been inflicted upon our senses. I hope and pray that we will remember all that has happened to us and our fellow world community members when we have a choice next time. I know that the disease that has eaten away at our society for the past 4+ years can be cured with strong, true and deep reflection and compassion for people and the planet we encompass. This is what I will teach my children. Not that we are at war with everyone who scares us, holds the key to more money than us, or has different ideas of the Creator than us, but that we must pity those who point those people out with hatred and destruction in their hearts and money at the top of their agenda.