I don't watch movies often.. I can't sit still that long.. I must do something or it just doesn't work.. The compadres (Godparents in Spanish) came over and we watched Body of Lies.. This would never be something I'd pick..According to Matt it was a good story line and intellectual. I was slightly flattered.. No, it wasnt a chick flick.. Similar to how I feel that books come to me for a reason, tonight the movie was in synch with the general flow of the week..
This week has been filled with images.. The ban on coffin pictures was lifted.. Seeing those flags drapped over coffins feels like a punch in the gut.. Oprah even featured stories of wounded soldiers at a medical center for the military.. I was temproraily immersed in their stories and felt unbelieveably useless. I guess it goes to show that every once in awhile I need to be reminded about how small and insignificant we really are.. so while I wouldn't have chosen that movie, I am glad I saw it.
The images of war are things that I most often chose not to let in my brain.. I am so aware of what images can do to us, how they haunt us and how our conscious will try to make sense of them no matter what... So on the rare occasion when I am exposed to something that powerful..I have to brace myself.. I cry and often pray.. I have to think about all those troops out there.. I have to acknowledge how scary it is to know that war is raging while we sit so comfortably in our home..
I am glad that for those two hours..plus or minus a few kid interruptions.. I could think about the real people fighting for us..the complexities of the war which are beyond comprehension and yet as simple and basic as the human need to love and to be validated.. To all those soliders who are really scared I say thank you for your courage.. I know my fear is minimal... I am thankful to have been born in the US. I am thanfkul to have the opportunities and freedoms that we too often take for granted. I am so amazingly blessed to be able to worry about the small things in my life while someone stands on a wall on a cold night protecting my freedom. God bless all the troops for they are the backbone of this country. May we never forget that freedom is not free.
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