VTXDave
Well-Known Member
Isn't it interesting how circumstances can quite literally change a person.
I'll be the first to admit that my first response to the WTC collapse was "We need to nuke those fuckers back to the Stone Age!". But my curiosity got the better of me and I began asking the question..."Why did they do it?". You see, as much as I would've liked to have held onto the dogmatic mantra of "They hate us for our freedoms.", something in the back of my mind was left unfulfilled with that answer...and so began my quest. My journey changed my views profoundly.
I feel that it's important to always ask...."Why?". As children, that is how we discovered the world and gained insight as to "how" our environment works, yes? For many, they seem to stop asking the question as they grow older. I wonder "why" that is.
I am not the same person I was 10 years ago (seeing how we're on the cusp of the 10 year anniversary of the WTC collapse). My quest sent me searching documents, buying/reading books on our dark history as a nation. The history we learn in school of course is "filtered" information. What I found wasn't pretty. I came to loathe my government with a passion. I came to "understand" how men like Che Guevara are created by their governments...All because I asked "Why did they do it?"
Today I abhor the idea of preemptive war (Bush Doctrine).
Now...about 1.5 years ago I reestablished contact with my old high school girlfriend via FB. She's married and has a good life. Her first born son entered the Marines last year, went through Boot Camp, shipped off to Afghanistan, and was promptly killed by an IED.
This war changed her life too. She now immerses herself in her Marine "family". She now fully believes that we need to kill those bastards over there no matter what. She believes that her son died for our freedom over here. She hates Muslims.
I haven't the heart to ask her the question "Don't you think your son died for nothing? Because some politicians want to Empire build? What about the copper mine over there that we're protecting with our soldiers so that the Chinese can extract the ore?" I can't ask her to ask herself "why" did her son have to die. I wish I could as I see her as another "casualty of war". Her pain over the loss of her son is so overwhelming that she is full of rage and hatred for "those people". I can understand that rage and pain. I've been there.
I hope one day she will ask "why" and begin seeking answers.
I'll be the first to admit that my first response to the WTC collapse was "We need to nuke those fuckers back to the Stone Age!". But my curiosity got the better of me and I began asking the question..."Why did they do it?". You see, as much as I would've liked to have held onto the dogmatic mantra of "They hate us for our freedoms.", something in the back of my mind was left unfulfilled with that answer...and so began my quest. My journey changed my views profoundly.
I feel that it's important to always ask...."Why?". As children, that is how we discovered the world and gained insight as to "how" our environment works, yes? For many, they seem to stop asking the question as they grow older. I wonder "why" that is.
I am not the same person I was 10 years ago (seeing how we're on the cusp of the 10 year anniversary of the WTC collapse). My quest sent me searching documents, buying/reading books on our dark history as a nation. The history we learn in school of course is "filtered" information. What I found wasn't pretty. I came to loathe my government with a passion. I came to "understand" how men like Che Guevara are created by their governments...All because I asked "Why did they do it?"
Today I abhor the idea of preemptive war (Bush Doctrine).
Now...about 1.5 years ago I reestablished contact with my old high school girlfriend via FB. She's married and has a good life. Her first born son entered the Marines last year, went through Boot Camp, shipped off to Afghanistan, and was promptly killed by an IED.
This war changed her life too. She now immerses herself in her Marine "family". She now fully believes that we need to kill those bastards over there no matter what. She believes that her son died for our freedom over here. She hates Muslims.
I haven't the heart to ask her the question "Don't you think your son died for nothing? Because some politicians want to Empire build? What about the copper mine over there that we're protecting with our soldiers so that the Chinese can extract the ore?" I can't ask her to ask herself "why" did her son have to die. I wish I could as I see her as another "casualty of war". Her pain over the loss of her son is so overwhelming that she is full of rage and hatred for "those people". I can understand that rage and pain. I've been there.
I hope one day she will ask "why" and begin seeking answers.
