A Sobering Moment

Last night at work I had a sobering moment. A young couple (girl and boy) came into the bar and we began to talk, joke, laugh. They were from Grand Isle, very nice and both very cute. During the course of the night the boy told us that he ships off to Iraq in four days. I was suddenly hit with the reality of this war like nothing before had made me. In four days this boy is being shipped off to a country where over 1000 other people like him have died. He could die.

In all the thoughts, rants I have had about this war ranging from shrieks of dis-approval to my conspiratorial belief that this is a game being played by big oil families like the Bush's to my extreme desire to see Dubya leaving the white house in handcuffs, headed for trial, accused of war crimes. I think America has been hood-winked, bluffed and flat out made fools of by this administration and it's desire to finish his daddies war and be the hero that he really isn't. I think it's time we admit that Georgie Boy is a failure, has never accomplished anything without his parents and their wealthy network of billionaire friends INCLUDING the Bin Laden family.

None of those arguments meant anything at that moment last night. This was a boy, with a girl who loved him, who planned to be married when he returned. I fought the urge to sing 1940's Andrews sisters songs, afraid I would be drummed out for insufficient "ooh-la-la." Why are we sending people like this boy into this situation. True, he signed up for the service or national guard, but why this war, this unpopular war, this war that threatens the entire reputation of our country as a defender of freedom and not a war mongering empire. This boy could die, in vain, leaving holes that will never be filled in the lives of his parents, this lovely girl, those friends that will watch CNN and read news reports and wait for word of his safety or demise.

It was upsetting and though we carried on as if the world wasn't going to abruptly change for him in a few days, it wasn't far from my mind. I'm sure he and his betrothed were doing everything they could to keep their fears quelled. All we can do now is wait and hope, that he will return safely, that our government will find a way to achieve freedom and peace for the Iraqi people and end our occupation, that someday soon he'll be back at my bar, alive.