What If?

Today was spent in the company of two good friends.

Aaron: I have known for years, but more important than longevity, we have known each other through a gamut of times, experiences and emotions. Frustrations, Heartaches, Success, Love, we have talked about it all. I can count on him to always be there.

Liam: Though, Ive known him for a significantly shorter amount of time, he is someone I trust. Gentle, Goofy, Witty and always there with an ear when things are a bit rough.

Though there are HUGE differences when comparing myself to both of these men, I am grateful for the blessings they both bring into my life... I am grateful for their friendship.

Today, a warm, sunny, lazy summer Sunday, was spent boating on the river. Enjoying life. Forgetting problems- embracing true joy and losing ourselves in an easy, effortless sort of pleasure. Boating, was followed by beers and a burger which was followed with a late movie.

"The Hurt Locker"

A gritty an honest movie about three soldiers fighting in Iraq in 2004. Many thoughts came to me as I stared at the desert landscape for the better part of two hours.... and, what started as an opinion on war in general and the devastation, hurt, pain and scars it leaves on our world, on our humanity, turned into deeper insights on the lives it effects.

WHAT WE TAKE FOR GRANTED...

Amidst our brew pubs, boats, and air conditioned movie theaters, how often do we stop and think about the thousands of soldiers protecting our freedoms.

We distance ourselves. We rarely stop to think about the things these soldiers are expected to carry out on a daily bases... inhuman things.... hateful things... destructive things... then we ask them to simply "come home" and lead a "normal" life. Go to the grocery store, change a diaper, make a bank deposit... make love to their wives... relate to their families...

BE...

"n-o-r-m-a-l"

The movies was well made and well acted, though graphic at times. It did not in my eyes glorify war, but was more a showcase of the living hell it brings to those who's lives it touches. It was a window into a world I often don't give much thought. As I witnessed the Iraq in the movie, which as I can only imagine is a sugar coated taste of the actual country, I became increasingly thankful for my life and my simple and virtually unacknowledged freedoms.

As the movie ended, I found myself playing "what if?"

-What if it was ME over there?

-What if my day spent with Liam and Aaron involved dodging gunfire instead of wakeboarding and intertubing?

-What if that story was our reality, like it is for so many?

-What if WE were living that hell?

It is a reminder, we should treasure the time we have with the people we care about. We should never take for granted the conveniences in our lives. We should be constantly thankful of our simple freedom.

And...

...as often as we can, we should STOP. We should take a second to think about the people who fight everyday in the name of that freedom. The people who's lives are ripped apart by the violence of hate. Ripped apart by war.

The soldiers, yes. Their families, yes. Their mothers, yes... but also, the people of these countries so far away, so disconnected to our lives.... the man in the marketplace who is buying dinner for his family, the boy selling pirated DVDs on the army base... the people of a nation that has been torn into so many pieces no one knows or can estimate when or if, it can be mended.

Compassion. We have it in us. Stop. Think. Love... Give patriotism a rest. Love. Give prejudice a rest. Love. Think about what we are asking of soldiers. LOVE. Think past our clean, easy, uncomplicated lives.... LOVE.

We have it in us.
I could be that soldier....
I could be that man in the marketplace...
I could be that boy selling DVDs....
So could YOU.


LOVE.