Monday, October 04, 2004
I Don't Know, I Don't Know .....
Actually I do know where I'm a gonna go when the volcano blows.
Council Crest Park in Portland is the highest point in the city and has a spectacular view, on a clear day like today, of Mt Saint Helens, Mt Ranier, Mt Adams and Mt Hood. I took some time this afternoon to wander up there and watch the mountain for an hour and a half. There were fewer people up there than I expected since there was a big steam release just two hours before I got there. The weather today is beautiful and I used the time to strike up a conversation with a cyclist named Bruce who was also stopping by on the off chance that he would witness something special. We had a great conversation about politics, volcanology, economics and the war in Iraq. Quite an enjoyable afternoon.
At one point in our conversation about Iraq and Bush's ineptitude we were interrupted by a guy, sitting on a wall two feet from us, who said he recently returned from a year and half in Iraq. He told us that we should be careful not to forget the soldiers over there while we were criticizing Bush. Bruce immediately said that one of our main reason for criticizing the war was that we were concerned about our soldiers. Bruce asked him to give us his perspective on the war. The guy said that it was impossible for him to tell if the Iraqi's felt good about our being there or not. He said one moment they were smiling at you and the next minute a 12 year old kid was pointing a rocket propelled grenade launcher at you. He defensively said that Saddam did have mass graves with 5,000 people in them and that he should have been attacked but he also felt that now that Saddam was gone we should get the hell out of there and let them "kill eachother" since we could not stop them. After discussing the situation for a few minutes the guy reluctantly admitted that Kerry was more likely to extricate us more quickly than Bush from Iraq, but he said either way, "it won't be quick".
It felt good to get so quickly from this guy wanting to rip our heads off to general agreement in a matter of minutes. If only we could all talk about our involvement in this war so calmly there would be more hope for a solution.
St. Helens didn't erupt and neither did this marine. As he left I thanked him for his service to me and my country and then looked at Bruce and said, "that was great!" He agreed.
Actually I do know where I'm a gonna go when the volcano blows.
Council Crest Park in Portland is the highest point in the city and has a spectacular view, on a clear day like today, of Mt Saint Helens, Mt Ranier, Mt Adams and Mt Hood. I took some time this afternoon to wander up there and watch the mountain for an hour and a half. There were fewer people up there than I expected since there was a big steam release just two hours before I got there. The weather today is beautiful and I used the time to strike up a conversation with a cyclist named Bruce who was also stopping by on the off chance that he would witness something special. We had a great conversation about politics, volcanology, economics and the war in Iraq. Quite an enjoyable afternoon.
At one point in our conversation about Iraq and Bush's ineptitude we were interrupted by a guy, sitting on a wall two feet from us, who said he recently returned from a year and half in Iraq. He told us that we should be careful not to forget the soldiers over there while we were criticizing Bush. Bruce immediately said that one of our main reason for criticizing the war was that we were concerned about our soldiers. Bruce asked him to give us his perspective on the war. The guy said that it was impossible for him to tell if the Iraqi's felt good about our being there or not. He said one moment they were smiling at you and the next minute a 12 year old kid was pointing a rocket propelled grenade launcher at you. He defensively said that Saddam did have mass graves with 5,000 people in them and that he should have been attacked but he also felt that now that Saddam was gone we should get the hell out of there and let them "kill eachother" since we could not stop them. After discussing the situation for a few minutes the guy reluctantly admitted that Kerry was more likely to extricate us more quickly than Bush from Iraq, but he said either way, "it won't be quick".
It felt good to get so quickly from this guy wanting to rip our heads off to general agreement in a matter of minutes. If only we could all talk about our involvement in this war so calmly there would be more hope for a solution.
St. Helens didn't erupt and neither did this marine. As he left I thanked him for his service to me and my country and then looked at Bruce and said, "that was great!" He agreed.
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