DO! To be required to sit absolutely still and purposely do nothing whatever, can be real punishment.
It is good that most of us have learned that basic lesson in our younger years; good also, perhaps, that many of us learned it the hard way because there are, and there will continue to be, times when we, as adults, are required to do the same thing in real terms. To be made to "stand in the corner" of a classroom while the swirl of childhood activities was fanned to new levels of excitement with its accompanying blanket of joyous noises and laughter amid authority which encouraged rather than inhibited such group actions.
Most of us, it appears, seem to thrive on activity in and around us and it seems true that we American,in particular, like to feel we are part of things in progress. Americans, young and old, seem to have certain concerns - "built-in and native- which we call upon from time-to-time to see us through disturbing moments of relative inactivity.
We are in such a phase at the moment. We have experienced harsh times in Iraq. For a time there was far too much to do , but with the end of the major fighting, while plans were being formulated for something lasting and worthwhile to come about because of it all, we have been told to do far less. It has proved to be difficult for many to "wind down." - to make use of our common sense which says for us take it easy for a time to allow important decisions to be made and suitable actions taken by others striving to restore order and continuity to the nation.
The pictures we are now seeing are those of people who have taken the needs of their nation very much to heart and who have risked their lives in a very real sense, to become a part of the making of a new ,stable government. It is all an experiment, in a sense, for we do not know how the tenets of democracy - however bent and restyled - will "take" in Arabic nation of this type. We have to be ready to face many situations in which hasty action might spell doom for the entire project in Iraq and inhibit its possible spread to other dictator controlled states on the continent of Asia. We are going to have to exhibit sincere patience and not always insist western world haste must give way to way to less vigorous Oriental concepts and ideals with which these people have been historically endowed. If you feel you must carry " a big stick", keep it out of sight.Much is going on while we seem to be doing nothing.
Go for a walk these days in February of 2005 and reflect on the fact that springs daffodils are, at this snow-flurried moment, already growing upward along the edge of the narrow path you walk.
A.L.M. February 17, 2005 [c501wds]
