WAR

I am living in a surreal world. I drive around the city, going about my business, seeing friends, attending to concerts, swimming at the Y, shopping at Trader Joes, going out to dinner, reading & writing books, talking on the phone, laughing, enjoying myself… and there’s a war raging in the Middle East. Thousands of my fellow country men & women are getting killed, shot at, bombed -- daily; they’re walking around in dangerous territory carrying heavy loads, sweating in the desert, looking out for danger every minute They are deprived of their families & loved ones. They are engaged in a war, but I’m not.

I grew up during the Second World War and we, at home, followed every detail we heard on the radio, which we listened to every night, faithfully, and saw in the newsreels at the movies, when we were lucky enough to go, and read in the newspapers, which we scoured each morning. We were at war & we knew it. We talked about it all the time. It was the most important thing in our lives: our boys – fathers, brothers, sons - were “over there” fighting for us. We knew about the battles, the casualties, everything. We made sacrifices, ate less meat, sugar, & other foods; no nylons for the ladies, we worked in factories to produce weapons; we suffered with our fighting men.

What’s going on now? Are we deaf, dumb & blind? Totally whacky!

Here’s another irony: I don’t need to express my feelings to anyone on line anymore. I just insert an emoticon and the whole world understands. I’m thinking of writing a book, or short story, or even a poem, using emoticons. Maybe just a few words…

Afghanistan: Iraq: Iran: (sorry but my emoticons wouldn't download) but you get the point.)

How’s that?