Iraq: A War that Fights the World

Anybody and everybody who was alive on that day and was conscious of time and space will forever remember where they were and what they were doing. Children, youths, young adults, the middle aged and the elderly all can tell you with clarity the details of their morning back on September 11, 2001.

Shortly after those tragic events that claimed in excess of two thousand lives in a matter of minutes, America became the giant that was awoken from its blissful sleep. It became clear that somebody was going to be held accountable. Somebody had to pay. By the next day the US President stood atop the rubble, being flanked by a wary fire-fighter and bellowed on a horn that the people who knocked down the builders would soon hear all of the American people.

Eventually, a report by a British researcher proved the basis of the motivation to invade Iraq in an attempt to  locate and eradicate its weapons of mass destruction. of course no WMD were ever found. What was made public was the identity of the British scientist whose findings propelled the invasion. That scientist committed suicide not too long after.

America’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 seemed to have reopened Pandora’s Box. The world watch with held breath as Saddam Hussein was dethrone, his sons executed and a people “liberated”. But the capture and subsequent hanging of the Iraqi president only green lighted sectarian violence.

Over the years since 2003 no one in Iraq it seems has been safe from suicide bombings and sniper attacks. Persons have also been kidnapped and killed. The influence of the Taliban and the hatred of invaders called “imbeciles” have led to more than four thousand deaths of US military personnel on Iraqi soil. Even areas codes as safe zones were not immune to the bombs of self sacrificing Arabs.

Of course the war in Iraq has had its impact on oil as well. The Middle East is the supplier of much of the world’s crude oil. Western civilization needs that product if it is to maintain any semblance of its original self.

This is a war that has also sharply divided the American people and its electorate. The current US president used he war to his electoral campaign in 2008. Now, on the eve of his second term presidential elections, President Obama has officially ended a war that started some eight or so years ago.

The ending of the Iraq war by the American military signifies the keeping of a promise made to the American people by their president while he was a candidate in the 2008 elections. Unfortunately, Republicans see the termination of the Iraqi war at this time as purely a political act designed to boost the incumbent president’s chances of re-election for a second term.

The world has been in a state of perpetual war mode since the terrorists attacks in 2001. This is particularly evident in the commercial airline sector. Boarding an airline has become one of the most scrutinized procedures in modern life. The continued attempts by off shoots of the Taliban to detonate on-board explosives in mid air has not made the attempt at forgetting the horrors of the past any easier.

The Iraqi war has revealed an enemy that is not just a particular ethnic group or geographic force to be reckon with. The Norway massacre a couple months ago also has some theoretical connection with the ideology of the Taliban and Al Qaeda network. In early May, master mind Osama Bin Laden was put to rest with a bullet from an American trooper. Sectarian violence in the rest of the Arab world, in particular Egypt and Syria is showing that confrontations, once started, are not easily stopped or controlled.

All persons across the globe are suffering in one way or another as a result of the Iraq war and the global assault on terrorism. Sadly, many of the innocent civilians in the territories which have been invaded by foreign troops are being pushed into a life of revenge for the innocent loss of lives of their family by NATO and its activities.

There is no easy end. Over 800, 000, 000, 000 have been spent on this war. A figure that is probably going to rise pending miscellaneous expenses. The threat of terrorist violence remains a real possibility anywhere there is freedom and a democracy that encourages open gathering as a direct means of standing up to suicide bombings and terrorist attacks.

 

When Wrong is Right

There are times that you are confronted by a situation not of your own making, which gives you an opportunity to drive home your inalienable human right because you were offended. Every person enjoys the power that comes from being in the right and dig deep in the sands of empowerment. But then some greater calling beckons at your conscience to not “press charges” in the matter.

For example, a business transaction may have been incorrectly interpreted and you were charged less than the selling price of whatever you are buying. You double checked and were told that the amount is correct; in fact you are even given back money. Days later, you are asked to return the same amount that was refunded to you!

Another illustration is that someone damages your property or some possession of yours. You are within your right to demand the faulted party to compensate or rectify the situation physically, financially or otherwise. However, to do this means that the offender is being stretched financially to a limit that their financial resources are able to reach.

Some narrow-minded person who does not really know you has spoken all sort of negative things about you. It may be leading to third parties forming a distorted view of the situation and indeed of you as an individual. It seems easy to put the lying party in their place. You can make a scene and create a final showdown that would prevent any further incident of that nature in the future.

But you realize that the position of absolute rightness does not need a retaliatory force to defend itself. There are times when maintaining one’s coolness and staying true to one’s life’s mission becomes more important than a temporary fix of a problem founded on ephemeral troubles or lies.

Life is 10% of what happens to you but life is 90% of how you respond to what happens to you. None of us can change or choose which two persons would have become our parents, or which country, ethnic group or blood type we would have at birth, but for sure we can choose how to live with those factors during the course of our lives on earth.

We become more valuable and more successful by growing our inner person’s character and not just creating a response that magnify our reputation to those people around us at the present time.

Our present and immediate situation may be urgent and may be screaming for our attention; however, it is our future outcome that is quietly calling us and that future outcome is what is most important. Train yourself to respond to the important and not just to the urgent.

Sunday at Christmas….

The way we celebrate Christmas has been changing quite a bit over the last decade or two. The older citizens would tell us of their days of serenading during the night’s cold hours. Sleeping families would be awaken by a chorus of voices echoing Christmas songs in the lonely and otherwise quiet night.

The use of spirited alcohol has continued to be a favourite drinking choice during this season. So, too, have the traditional black cake and home made bread remained with us. Those of us who grew up in the 20th century would have looked forward to playing with our toy guns. After lunch on Christmas Day, it would have been much “popping” of gun shots among the village boys as they played Shooting.

Of course, toy guns have since been banned after it became clear that the real guns were being heard more than the toys.

A recent addition to Christmas now is the opening up of the stores on Sunday afternoons for shoppers. At first it was a rather relaxing new experience to go into town on a Sunday with one’s family or just to take in the quiet scenes. But now Sunday afternoon shopping has more crowds than even the national Carnival held in the city each year.

It has become a definite boom for the commercial sector. But it also shows that for many people, the importance of Christmas is directly linked to commercial spending and not on heavenly blessings. As the world’s economy finds it harder to keep money in the pockets of the consumer it is safe to predict that Christmas as we know it today is dying a commercial death.

Because Christmas means buying and getting all things physical and new,   when money is hard to come by then persons will not  be able to “celebrate” Christmas any more.

It is then up to those of us who know what Christmas is all about to celebrate Jesus all year round. Our commemoration of His birth in December must never be left to the business community’s ability to afford some sales promotions.

 

When Men Hurt

if men don't cry...society will

Western societies continue to evolve on all levels. The shifting focus and inter dependency of gender roles on our social well being is taking a somewhat obviously subtle turn towards violence and retribution. In the twentieth century it was the women and children who were regarded as being the helpless ones in the context of situations involving domestic violence or relationship breakdown.

The empowerment of our independently driven women over the last decade has brought a fair deal of balance to the vulnerabilities of the sexes. In fact, our females have almost been enclosed by a legal regulatory frame work that acts as a force shield from the traditional domestic disputes and conflicts.

The socialization of both genders has seen our females in general not being invited to empathize with any emotional vulnerabilities of the opposite sex. The men also have been ruthlessly trained that a critical criteria which determines manhood is to not show any sense of emotional fear, intimacy or failure, especially as it relates to their relationships.

The unwelcomed reality is that after many decades of man being the sexually dominant figure and the economic centrepiece in the home, men are now having to face some hard changes. Their women are no longer willing to just be a frightened puppy when the treacherous situations of cheating and insensitivity pop up in their intimacies. Ladies are actually prepared now to move out and move on with their lives, largely due to the supportive frame work put in place over the years.

On the other hand, men are finding that, as their home lives deteriorate, they have no one or nowhere to really go to for some sort of solace or resurgence. They definitely cannot approach their brethren with whom they hang out and share their inner pain or pending family loss. The vibes from the Gaza culture and Hollywood instant retributive side leaves them with a seemingly easy and cost effective alternative of violence and swift murder.

Each time a man goes on the killing spree and slaughters his girl friend or woman there exists another man somewhere in the dark heartlands of despair, fear and frustration with his own family who is all the more encouraged to follow suit and rid the world of the persons he sees as representing his pain and loss. Such persons in effect have taken away his manhood. And a man without his manhood is no man.

The growing sense of domestic alienation of our men and young boys is sending a strong wake up call for balanced emotional support for the male gender. Many men now seem to have so very little to live for within a happy monogamous relationship. It is far easier for them to just see the need to satisfy their current sex drive and not necessarily to value “settling down” with one woman and their resulting offsprings.

The many teenage boys who have little choice but to become a man before they see puberty because of a missing father represents a flashing amber light in the social dynamics. Upcoming is a generation of tomorrow’s men who have much disappointment, anger, hurt and confusion as to why their should-be role models never stuck around practically in their lives. They have to somehow deal with all the resulting pain before they can even think of having their own successful family.

Women and men have been hurt so much in relationships that a growing percentage of both sexes is starting to have little or no expectations of a future relationship that is built on stability, trust and commitment. The sweetness has been removed from many homes and so there are little incentives to anchor the heart there.

Is Police Protection a Practical Reality?

The recent execution of a local nation builder and law-abiding citizen by alleged convicted criminals has open up a most unwanted can of rotting worms in the Vincentian society. On many levels there seems to be a moral fight on to instill in our upcoming generation traditional values of respect for life and human dignity, hard work, submission to authorities and obedience to the laws of the land.

Parents, many of them single mothers, have been struggling to socialize their growing children along the right paths. Teachers and church leaders are up against the tide as well, as they attempt to find new ways to reach today’s youth. Social workers, counsellors and community NGOs are all being exhausted under the weight of a manifesting rebellious generation.

Now that a person who attempted to see that justice prevails in an attempted criminal robbery has been most likely slaughtered by the same persons who he helped to put behind bars it must send shock waves to the rest of the law-abiding citizens in our land.

Think about it. Here is a man, owner of a licensed fire arm, friend and supporter of the police, being murdered in the wee hours of the night right in his own home. Even the way the murder was reported in one of the local papers showed a sense of fear from the writer and editorial team.

The uncomfortable truth seems to be obvious at this stage: those who would try to assist the police in fighting crime and violence will not have the police to aid them when the former accused persons come calling. It means no one is safe from criminal minds.

But that cannot be allowed to remain so. If we are not careful, pretty soon we will have criminals out and about like they are the law and order of the day. The time has come for policing to be done realistically and creatively. In the case at hand, convicted and sentenced offenders are out of prisons and the police were not able to put early protective mechanisms in place to keep one of their public helpers alive. Which Vincentian  will now think of collaborating with the police in putting away criminal elements in the future?

The way the system works, incarcerated people do not remain there forever and upon their release all parties that assisted in their earlier incarceration are left to live as normal. Howbeit the police man the homes of magistrates but not the homes of key witnesses? This recent execution has plunged past attempts of the police at building a positive public relations image. It is bad enough that thugs and criminal elements are allowed to threaten and intimidate persons on a day-to-day basis but to allow them to simply take the life of a law-abiding citizen in his own home is just not good enough.

Police protection is no longer just about the public places during peak traffic hours. It has to be about the private times when people are all alone because that is their family time. Criminals are getting ready it seems to kill at will because they’d say it is as easy as taking candy from a baby. This is serious. The gentleman who was killed in this latest incident had a gun and knew how to use it; even so, he was still killed. So what does that say about other Vincentians who do not own or have techniques to protect their lives when it matters most?

Tens of Thousands Protest in Moscow, Russia, in Defiance of Putin – NYTimes.com

MOSCOW — Tens of thousands of Russians gathered peacefully in central Moscow on Saturday to shout “Putin is a thief” and “Russia without Putin,” forcing the Kremlin to confront a level of public discontent that has not been seen here since Vladimir V. Putin first became president 12 years ago.

via Tens of Thousands Protest in Moscow, Russia, in Defiance of Putin – NYTimes.com.

Violent Crimes and Responses

Every people community wants to grow, expand and develop its infrastructure and standard of living for its residents. This quest inevitably seems to spill off into anti social values and prohibited activities. Every person has his or her own personality and that is what leads to the conflict in co-existing as one people. There is always someone to see things differently and want to take another route to accomplish personal goals.

Persons are often determined to build their own fortune of wealth as shown by liquid cash or tangible assets. Sometimes the lack of appropriate employment serves as a trigger as well. A new generation of not-so-hard-working people are prepared to take from those who sacrifice to work hard. Guns and violent force are becoming second nature in our society. And it seems that the faction using these weapons for mass destruction are able to out perform the persons who have the legal rights to use weapons in their assault on criminal activities.

It is said that a frog wold not jump or stay in a pot and allow itself to boil to death but that same frog would stay in a lukewarm pot and take the subtle heat increase until it is slowly thoroughly cooked. With every murder that occurs we are becoming like that frog: subtly accepting the killing of humans as our norm and way of life.

Christmas Economics

Christmas has been a universal catalysis for bringing out the best of values within people. The last few years have seen this being changed as people concentrate on their physical possessions rather on their emotional connections.