Things should be right and simple
Lots of emotion is swirling around our household these days. I expect we are not alone.
Roy Williams is going back to North Carolina — arghhh. The president is making rumbling noises at Syria for harboring terrorists and members of the Butcher's upper echelon, having weapons of mass destruction, and providing Iraq with supplies to help defeat our troops — arghhh. Russia, France, and Germany are still threatening to throw themselves on the floor and hold their collective breath until their faces turn blue. THEN we will be sorry — arghhh.
It just makes you wonder why things can't be right and simple.
As if the above weren't enough, I spent the weekend trying to figure out the Iraqi security problem. Day after day we saw film clips of Iraqi citizens looting government buildings, palaces, and such. Then the next view was of some "embedded reporter" interviewing all manner of Middle Eastern folks and political pundits who said the U.S. needs to hurry up and get out of Iraq. But then the NEXT view was of other Middle Easterners saying what the U.S. really, really needs to do is establish law and order. More than once I muttered at the television screen, "So YOU go out and tell your fellow Iraqis to put that stuff back! It is your stuff, you take a stand."
Who'd have thought they would loot and destroy their own museums, the sites of their own history? And then blame us for "letting" them do it. Convoluted thinking, neither right nor simple.
And why do we have to huff and puff at Syria this week? Talk about stoking the anti-American fervor. Couldn't we just wait a while on that one? Have the secretary of state make a quiet phone call? Concentrate on the job at hand and try to keep it simple for the time being?
Watching Russia, France, and Germany throw a temper tantrum about being left out of post-war planning for Iraq is a great deal like watching a two-year old pitch a fit in a toy store. As a Mom, I can attest to a right and simple solution to that one. Be firm and don't give in.
I admit to being a little embarrassed that I am so upset about Roy Williams leaving KU. In the grand scheme of things, it probably doesn't matter much. I am just sad that he chose to leave. It just makes you wonder why things can't be right and simple.
But the prisoners of war have been rescued and are headed home. And that is cause for celebration. It is exhilarating to read and hear their stories. For them, the end of the tale is right and simple. Thank God.
— SUSAN MARSHALL
