The war. It's almost unreal to me still. When I head that the bombings had begun, I felt sick to my stomache. I think that for a lot of us, it is difficult for to be truly effected by events, no mater how tragic or horrible they may be, unless we are feeling the direct impact of them. I feel aweful for everyone who is invovled in this war because no matter who theorhetically 'wins', each and every country involved, and some not involved, with suffer negative consequences. But as bad as I feel, this war is not significantly changing my life...yet. Therefore, it has been difficult for me to take a stance.

It just seems to easy to call Bush an 'idiot'...I mean, I do not think that war is the best means to resolve the issues at stake. I don't want to see innocent civilians harmed. I do not want to live in a world that becomes more destabilized each day. But at the same time I am not going to blame the problems of the world and the war on one individual. I think that by making blanket statements like that attempts to simplify a problem that is much more complex.

Today in one of my classes we talked about the dangers of indifference. I am not very knowledgeable about world events in general, and what is occuring right now is so complex that it is impossible to get an accurate idea of what exactly is taking place. No source seems reliable to me. News channels, radio stations, news papers...every writer, every media source, every single person I talk to has an agenda that they are fulfilling. Beware, you cannot take anything at face value!

I resolved today to take a stance on this war. To learn as much as I can, to read well and read widely but to be critical of everything I take in. And I encourage you to do the same. I am for Peace, I think if asked if they preferred war or peace, most sane and well-meaning people would want peace. But given the circumstances and the way in which the United States administration is operating, Peace is not an option. Therefore, millions of people are standing behind a government that believes war is the only way to bring about peace...hmmm...ironic...

I believe that everyone who takes a stance should strive to be as educated as possible. It is tempting to make generalizations, but we must remember to be cautious with our words...it is not the American citizens who are starting this war. Many are in protest of it. If one is to criticize, I believe it should be directed at the Bush administration and not at American's themselves.

I hope that in the next few weeks as I take a provocative approach to learning about this event that will go down in history, others too will engage themselves and refuse to have their opinions simply molded for them by biased media sources.