�Never bear more than one trouble at a time. Some people bear three kinds � all they have had, all they have now, and all they expect to have.� � Edward Everett Hale

There is much trouble in the world right now, trouble that each of us have. Here is an interesting perspective of things. So, our impatient president is taking us to war. So, we�re involved in taking an evil dictator out of power, taking over, having control, taking lives, sparing lives. You don�t believe that last part, though, do you? About sparing lives and all? No, we only think of the lives that will be lost. I�m constantly in a quandary over this.

My gut tells me that there IS a universal morality, and that this time, we are right and Hussein is wrong. But my mind (and everyone around me) says, �who are we to be right? Who�s to say that we are or are not?� We could spend forever asking those questions, while people continue to suffer. We are a nation that feels compelled to be involved, it�s just choosing WHAT we will get involved in that divides us. We feel a calling? We want to help? We don�t help by sitting around in our comfortable homes and cursing the news on TV. Most of us protest now, but why did these people wait until now to begin their own, personal involvement? We didn�t see hundreds of thousands of people reading platforms, evaluating issues, and coming up with alternatives two years ago.

No, we sit complacent until something seems out of place. That�s not involvement. Maybe I�m not a good person because I can�t decide what is right here. Maybe I�m an ignorant war-monger because I�m not convinced another several years of monitoring and official requests will have any effect on the powers-that-be in Iraq and other nations. We choose who we help. We choose who we attack. I do not believe that ANY man in a position of power is thinking solely for the people, and that includes those who are in "power" in this country. How sad is that?

I don�t know whom to trust, I don�t know whom to believe. I just keep reading the headlines to be aware of what happens next. In the meantime, on the selfish, typical American side note, I have no trouble in my life. The only trouble I have is in my mind when I think about the trouble of others and doubt my worth as a person when I choose to not get involved.

-Barbarella

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