A Small Victory: war and such

war and such

I pulled into my driveway last night at about 7:30. It was, of course, very dark at that time, but I noticed a glimmering light coming from my neighbor's house across the street. When I turned to look, I saw what must have been 100 lit candles. Their house is a hi-ranch and as such has an absurd amount of steps leading up to the front door. The candles were lined up and down these steps and from my vantage point, looked like a carpet of tiny flames. I couldn't imagine why they had these candles out. I thought of going over and asking, but they were just headed into the house as I started to walk over and I didn't feel like manuevering my way through a sea of candles to knock on the door.

It dawned on me about a half hour later that the wife is from Haiti, which is in close proximity to the Dominican Republic. In an instant, I knew what the candles were for. When I went out to have a cigarette later on, I saw the husband (who is not from Haiti) outside and went over to talk to him. His wife had several relatives on flight 587.

Sometimes it's weird being an atheist, because people say to me "please pray for our family," and some part of me wishes there was someone for me to pray to. But now, at this point, I just nod and say "Your family is in my thoughts."

***

I woke up in the middle of the night, once again thinking about this war. It seems to be a nightly thing now. I keep having this thought that the Taliban are not so much being defeated, as regrouping. They may look like they are retreating, it may seem to the world as if the Northern Alliance are running circles around the Taliban, making their war look all but won. Pardon me for giving a bunch of horrid terrorists credit, but I do. I give them more credit than to take them for a group that would fall so easily. After reigning with terror and fear all these years, I am still having a hard time believing that they are just dropping like flies, giving up their land, running for the hills or defecting. They managed to pull off a very intricate, synchronized attack on a world power, they have plans for a nuclear war, but they are having a hard time fighting an enemy that they have ruled over for so many years? I'm just conjecturing, but I'd say this thing is far from over. I said way back when it first started that it would end very badly and I am still holding on to my pessimistic, alarmist, cynical views.

Today is the Thursday that feels like Friday. Which means one thing. Tomorrow morning at 10:30, I will be sitting in a movie theater with my kids and my mother, finally seeing Harry Potter and for 2 1/2 hours I will forget all about the outside world.

A Small Victory

war and such

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