Close to Home

Over the past few days, evacuees from Lebannon and the region have been trickling back into the United States. After a week of what can only amount to war, Americans are returning home after being in the line of fire for the opening volleys. I can't imagine what it must be like. Some will argue that they knew that this was a possiblity when they went to the region. Others would say that they shouldn't have gone in the first place. But do they know that people do have family there? That despite the overwhelming desire to believe that the region is a war-torn landscape that people live there too? As hard as it is to imagine, when there isn't shooting going on, it can be a normal place like the one we live in as well.

It's unfortunate for us that we don't get exposed to that side of things in the media as often as we do everything else. But talk to the Americans returning home and they will often speak of the horrors that they saw over there. But the media won't always show us the other part of the interviews where they talk about the people they have left behind over there. Families like themselves who can't really evacuate anywhere because that is there home.

Imagine the horrors of war in our own country. Terrible thought isn't it? The attacks on September 11th and similar such incidents have shaken our belief in being safe in our own country. Perhaps that is what is driving both sides in the conflict to seek some sort of resolution to the points of contention. I am not a politician, nor am I a policy maker or military leader. But what I do know is that families on both sides of the line are being affected by this conflict. They are losing loved ones and friends who may probably don't have any direct impact on what's going on in the political machine of their respective countries.

I can only hope that the two sides in this war can come to an agreement on how best to deal with the situation. Continuing escalation will only lead to greater violence and loss of life. The people there can't be evacuated. The people there may not want war. They may not like their enemies, but I'm sure they'll like the horrors of war visited upon them even less. There must be a way out of the madness which seems to be arriving on their doorsteps every hour of every day over the past few weeks. One can only hope... and pray that such horrors never visit us upon our doorsteps. September 11th was enough.... we never need more.