So the movement to impeach Bush has come to a halt? All right then, let's try him for crimes against humanity. That's what an unjust war really is, right? Innocent people are being attacked for no reason. And if people argue that we're at war, man, it's not a crime—well, it is a crime, folks. Labelling something a war does not mean you can get away with anything at all. There are rules. Or so I'm told. I think the first rule should be something like "Put your damn guns away." But that would be too smart. There are rustlings about war crimes, murmurs of crimes against humanity... will these ever come to anything? Or will things simply come to this: All of Bush's aides step down, eventually, trying to protect him. Leave the rich white guy at the top, see, because the rest of us stepping down will be a distraction.
Funny, I'm not distracted. At some point, the man playing top dog has to take a little responsibility.
All this was bound to come out in November, the month of Remembrance Day in Canada. Novembrance (Remembrance) Day seems to be more about soldiers, outdated tradition, fighting than Memorial Day in the U.S. Memorial Day really is a day of remembering. Remembering people who have died. But Novembrance Day is something else. It's not just a day of remembering, but of honouring soldiers who are still alive. Still fighting a noble war. Oh, wait, no war is noble. Novembrance Day honours war. I will not wear your poppy to support soldiers in their quest to be "heroes." Holding a gun and shooting at anything that moves does not earn you respect. It will earn you disdain, to be honest. Here's how to be a hero: find a way to work things out. Agree to disagree. Stop with the "my religion is better than yours." Seriously. Get over it.
A little story now:
I was walking my dog one night when a man on crutches walked by. The kind of crutches that used to be called braces and don't go up into the armpits. My dog, as she tends to do when seeing anything new in her world, started barking. The crutches were a little scary. Instead of getting upset with my dog, the man had the patience to stand still for 10 or 15 minutes while my dog slowly got used to the crutches, wandered up to sniff them, and then rubbed against the man's hand for rubs. He took as much time as it took—and even a little more—for my dog to get used to the crutches. He lifted one up, let her sniff the underside, let her examine all of it. At some point during my life, I remember seeing an ad campaign. It was all about looking beyond disability to see ability. This experience with the man and my dog reminded me of that, but in a different sort of way. That man was all about ability and fine traits that few people have. Patience. Caring.
On disability: I find it hard to look past the disability of people unwilling to try to new tactics in diplomacy. I see soldiers and the military as people who have the greatest disability of all: they are able but unwilling to go beyond tradition... the tradition of war, which has failed miserably. When will military folks grow beyond their disability?
I would hire the man on crutches to fight my war. He seems to know more about the value of life and patience and taking the time to do something the right way.
