What I Didn't Know
by
Dick Prosapio
© 2002
Bin Laden and those others behind the 9/11 attack
believed we, as a nation, were and are "paper tigers". Based upon
Vietnam, Somalia, and other fights we have been hurt in and have
backed away from, justified or not, that is how we have been perceived
by those who mean us harm. The law of the jungle, more to the point,
the tribal law of the Middle East, is that the weak are taken
advantage of. Any sign of weakness is taken as an opening and is
sensed eagerly by those who are ready to pounce.
I'll never forget what my Karate instructor told me,
"If somebody is after you in an alley somewhere what I want you to do
is look around for a board with a nail in it, a brick, a broken
bottle..your job is to win. Never mind the fancy stuff you're learning
here, you have got to win no matter what."
What surprised and shocked me down to my core was
that I had a deeply held belief that I had only to fight fair to win.
That alone would determine the outcome. What he let me know was that I
was worth fighting for......worth fighting in any way I could
to survive. And most importantly, my life was worth more than the life
of the one attacking me! I was surprised to realize that at some level
I didn't believe that. I believed that I could only preserve my life
by protecting myself the "right" way....and in the process I must not
cause any harm.
What he said to me that day changed what I believed
about myself and the world. What he gave me was a lesson in reality.
Few of us have had to fight for our survival in this country. Anyone
who has knows that there is nothing "fair" about such a fight. It is
tooth and claw. Nothing matters other than winning that struggle. We
would rather believe that reason can win such a fight. But in a
battle with someone who isn't interested in that philosophy and would
rather cut our throat, we are wasting our breath....on all levels.
There were lots of reasons for an Iraqi invasion,
positive and negative. Those spoken about and those not hinted at. One
not acknowledged; we needed a war we were going to win, one in which
we could flex some muscle, not a Granada or Panama, but an undertaking
in a region where there was clear evidence of potential threat. One
where those busily sharpening knives would get the message that we
would not be taken for being feint of heart. So, this war was
undertaken. Over a hundred of ours and thousands of theirs lost their
lives. Many are wounded. Many are angry. And from many Iraqi people
comes word that they are thankful that it was done. None, on either
side, would say, "No matter the cost." in human life. But that is the
grim harvest of any war. And the only dancing in the streets will be
for the living, and for the end of it.
The rhetoric for home consumption in the Middle East
is that we should get out now, but Arab leaders know that if we were
to back out, that would be a sign for the radicals to come rushing in
to fill the vacuum, an "I-told-you-so!" regarding America's will, and
then it will all have been for nothing. Mid-East leaders want us in
the area until a stable government can be established in Iraq, only
then will it really be appropriate for us to pull out.
Nobody likes to admit that these are the realities
of life on this planet at this time. Many would like to believe that
we human beings should have evolved by now beyond using war as a
policy tool. Problem is, we don't live in a world like that. We never
have; and it will probably be a long, long time before we do. Until
every government on the planet is in accord, at the same time,
that there must be no more war ever again, anywhere........everyone is
going to be prepared both to defend and aggress with a nail in a board
or a nuclear bomb, or whatever they have at hand.....even their own
bodies wrapped in high explosives.
There has been a fantasy prevalent that once upon a
time we lived in harmony with one another. There is absolutely no
evidence to support such a belief in the historical record. Our
species has been involved in the killing of one another, both
individual and wholesale, since the beginning. The myth of Cain and
Able tells us just how far back this goes. (For some new evidence of
this human predilection check out the Steven A. LeBlanc article in the
June edition of Archaeology.)
Pray, protest, paint, write letters, poetry, prose,
take photographs about the cost of this insanity in us, try to effect
changes of heart; do whatever you, as an individual can do to
influence the World about this problem.....and, if you are threatened
or attacked, fight for your life.
Dick Prosapio ©2003, All Rights
Reserved
