Home of Today’s Common Sense

Submitted to Brownsville Herald 1/31/2005
The first set of elections in Iraq are over and the commentators and experts are analyzing and commenting trying to put things in a perspective that will benefit one interest group or other but not necessarily us folks. I watched the coverage on multiple TV channels and all seemed to show real folks like us, genuinely elated at being able to participate in the direction their government was taking. I saw a patriotism that seems to be lost here in the U.S. and in particular, South Texas where a big turnout at the polls is 39% of those eligible. In Iraq folks in fear for their lives, especially women, walked miles to be frisked by authorities and wait in line hours just to vote. Veteran news men like Fox News Geraldo Rivera, hardened by seeing so much of the bottom side of life, were moved nearly to tears.
“Back Home” we watch and wait for the next shoe to drop and inevitably, when the power of the moment recedes someone will say; “what are the causes of the conflict” and try to apologize for our imagined or real misdeeds that made all this necessary. One of the best descriptions I have ever read is an article that I keep near at hand that was written by U.S. Marine Sgt. Ben Christensen, “Reports from Charlie Company” on Nov. 7, 2004. He put the circumstances in a historical, economic and personal perspective that answers most of issue posed by the letter that precipitated the article. Important to me was his denial of a personal view of a clash of cultures being his reason for service but his duty to his nation and took pains to point out his personal understanding of the historical events. It was a remarkable piece.
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