Emotional Again

August 5, 2008

To say there is a lot going on in America now is an understatement. I don’t know if the war still leads the news reports back home, or if gas prices are king. Maybe the start of the NFL season ranks high among men aged 18-35 and Sarah Palin’s fashion sense among women of the same age group. And for the most part I have been a bit disconnected from US news lately, (not to mention my own “U.S. Life”…but that’s a different story.) So much is going on in my small circle of Baghdad that I often forget to check the Internet for news from back home. Here, Ramadan has started and fasting is all the rave. The Militia seems to be back on the move after months of silence. And talk of the Iraqi PM’s call for a US pull-out deadline just about falls on deaf ears among us Americans. But yesterday I happened to get to watch part of the Republican National Convention. And as luck would have it, I got to see the end of Sarah Palin’s address. Then today I got to see John McCain’s speech in its entirety. I was stirred by both, to say the least. Enough so that it has brought me back to the pen once again.

In Iraq men and their government are an odd and often volatile pairing. It seems every week some minister or another is being replaced, dethroned, arrested, or outright killed. The sectarian issue still plays big on the political landscape, but it seems simply that bad men are finally getting their just rewards for past bad deeds. (I hope these people are learning that no bad deed goes unpunished…but somehow I think their capacity for “learning” just doesn’t go that far.) So the people seem to take a dispassionate attitude to what their government is doing for, or too, them now. Maybe 30 years of brutal dictatorship will have that affect on the mind…I just can’t relate to it though. And it seems the American political scene, specifically the elections, is more important to the nationals I work with than the Iraqi one. I have been asked if I am going to vote for Obama, what I think of “the woman Vice President”, do I like Hillary Clinton, etc. But not one has asked me about John McCain. This has led me to realize that the US media has done their job well in successfully advertising the Left to not just the American voter, but to the global market as well. It’s a shame too because Iraqis are big on honor, (most of them are in theory anyway…), and tradition, and bravery. And who better personifies those traits in the US political landscape right now than McCain? So I have done my best to explain who my vote has always been for and why, and I tell them about the man and what I think he stands for.

For the first time in along time I’m emotional about what I’m doing here again. The feeling of belonging has always been there, but now I think I understand why. I haven’t been able to explain this feeling of purpose I have here. Lately I have felt like I have no home other than right where I am at. But after watching the future President of the United States and his running mate speak passionately about their lives and their hopes for America I have realized that what I am doing now is bigger than myself. What I am a part of is bigger than me and it feels good to give to my country and be a part of the contributing populace. There are no complaints here, no longing for something better than what I have, no wishes to emulate someone else or some other country. I am an American…and I couldn't feel more pride in pronouncing that than I do today.

McCain/Palin ’08!

-Jim Franks