Last Monday, a lifelong friend of mine was shipped off to Iraq. He is such a close friend that I am sure that had we not known each other and grown up together, neither of us would be the same person that we are today. Now that I think about it, he is probably the last friend that I have that has been there since my childhood; through high school, family conflicts, basically all of the unavoidable horse shit that comes along with being a teenager.
I've never been a supporter of the war. This opposition has never been a result of a fear of being drafted (which every adult who I've had an Iraqi-War related discussion with has assumed to be the reason). I strongly identify with the concept of anti-interventionism, which I realize is a foreign topic to try to relate to. Seeing as many, if not all depending on how analyze it, American wars have been based on the concept of intervening in the affairs of other people, it seems opposing this idea is almost opposing the very bedrock of our nation. And in our supposedly ideal society, we aren't supposed to question such things. If a civilization is founded upon a series of atrocities and injustices, questioning these events would essentially be questioning the society itself. I digress.
I've gotten into many arguments, mostly with my family, over the War in Iraq. However, the one person I've neglected to bring up the topic with is my friend, who at the moment, is probably still becoming acclimated to the 100 degree+ temperature and unimaginable conditions of being a soldier in the Iraqi War. On a strictly personal level, I'm not sure if this is because of a fear of jeopardizing our friendship or my natural tendency to be a pacifist. Step back and observe the situation from a societal standpoint. The War in Iraq is fought by our friends, our family, or people we have otherwise been associated with based on being citizens of the same country. It becomes difficult to oppose something that our culture has become so intertwined with. Many people support our troops because they identify with them on a personal level. In doing so, they neglect to question the reason that they are even supporting the troops in the first place, being the causes behind the war. And it is due to this misunderstanding, I believe, that the war itself has been so quietly accepted be the majority of America.
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I think that we do need to question society itself. I feel that it is far from ideal: we struggle with poverty, technological ignorance, unbalanced (and what I consider linear) education systems, racism, political tension...and the list goes on.
I think that people are afraid to question society because as a whole, we are afraid of the possibility of having to change anything. I think changes do have to occur.
I compare our society to a rubix cube. When someone is on the pursuit to solve a rubix cube, they constantly make shifts and twists and turns in hopes of completing the puzzle.
What happens when a person solves one side, leaving the remaining five sides jumbled up? They are hesitant to make any more shifts. They fear mixing up what seems like "perfection". But is the entire puzzle perfect? No. It's only 1/6 the way there.
I feel like our society has solved one side. I don't exactly know what that one side is (perhaps it is our progression of technology)...however, we still have five more sides to go. And until we make some shifts, then the cube will never be solved.
The war in Iraq could be compared to the rubix cube theory as well. The only problem is we don't even have a single side solved yet...everything is jumbled up.
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