Little Girl...

I keep getting a vision in my head of a little girl I saw as we drove along the convoy route the other day. She was standing on a pile of sand in a neighborhood filled with what can be best described as earthen shacks. She waved and smiled at us in bare feet and a flowered dress, and her eyes held the same innocence that all 4 year old kids seem to have. She was genuinely happy to see us, and the chaos that surrounded her had yet to diminish her excitement for life.
I tried to imagine spending day after day in this environment. The oppressive heat, with no air conditioning to retreat into, and water always in short supply. The corruption in this part of the world is wide spread, and they are almost guaranteed of maintaining whatever class level their parents were raised in.
I guess growing up in a big family has given me more exposure to seeing things from another persons perspective. It was almost a survival technique with 9 siblings whom covered the entire spectrum of personality types. Don’t get me wrong, I’m as self-centered as anyone else, but I find alternative perspectives fascinating.
The little girl on the side of the road reminded me that we all start out pretty much the same way. The major events in our lives, good and bad, define how we allow ourselves to live our lives. I venture that the difference between someone who lives courageously and someone who goes through life hiding in the shadows is often nothing more than a single life event at a crucial time. Divorce, encouragement, abuse, education, oppression, and a hundred other factors define whether we become one of the good guys or one of the bad guys.
Our enemies here are people who have decided that human life is expendable. They don’t bother themselves with the details. If one of the women they blew up in the market that day was the mother of 3 young kids whose lives will be changed forever, the bad guys can justify it away as a necessity to their cause. The heroes that the USA has over here risk their own lives everyday doing their best to protect the innocent from the bad guys. Even this far from home, and surrounded by people who have little in common with us, our guys find common ground with the locals and develop a mutual respect.
One thing about the desert…the lack of visual stimulation makes your mind find other ways to keep itself busy. We’re all becoming a bunch of philosophers out here.
The little girl had blue eyes.

T.

PS – Happy Birthday to my sister Rita. LYMI!