My mind is filled to the brim this morning, so much that it cannot help but spill over onto the pages of this epistle. My heart is pained by the complete collapse of the Afghan government and security forces in which we invested so much of our blood and treasure.
We always seem to have noble intentions when we deploy our awesome military forces into places whose history and culture we do not fully understand. In Iraq, we excluded the Sunni who had administered Iraq under Saddam Hussein from virtually any involvement in the new government, and thus gave birth to ISIS. We thus compounded the strategic error of weakening perhaps the main regional Islamic counterforce to Iran‘s projection of power outside its borders.
Early on in Afghanistan, the Taliban leadership asked to become a partner in the new government. We said no, emphatically, and put all our stock in one side of what most understood was a civil war in the making. And recently we set the twentieth anniversary of the 9/11 attack as the date for withdrawal of our forces from the country. Why not in winter, when fighting pretty much comes to a standstill? Had you ever been to the country, you would immediately know why.
We just love to demonize our opponents, both domestically and internationally. Noriega was our friend as long as he sang our tune. But once he rebuffed us, he was the Devil incarnate. Ditto with Saddam Hussein. Who will be next? My prayers are for a peaceful transition to a more stable Afghan government, one which includes representation and power sharing between all the tribal warlords and other power brokers, and one that will see the folly of destroying the civil society that it has been gifted. I pray for a peaceful air evacuation of all our people and those local nationals who served with our military forces as interpreters. Lastly, I am thankful that Russia, China and other regional powers…including Iran and Pakistan…are active behind the scenes in trying to prevent a bloodbath and massive regional adverse impacts.
Whatever happens in Afghanistan, we need to know that in the Islamic world we will never be accepted as trusted partners when we have military forces on the ground. Yes, we can use dollars to recruit, train and pay an army, and we can give them modern weaponry. But we need to learn that people will never say no to offers of dollars, or training or leadership opportunities. But most of their hearts remain in a place we can never go or buy or understand.
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Another subject. This morning I learned that one of my very favorite singers, Nanci Griffith, had passed away at the age of 68. I had not realized that she was born on the same day as me, just ten years later and on a different continent. I first saw and heard her incredible voice at the Kennedy Center, some twenty five years ago. Willie Nelson was the headliner. But first came Nanci, fresh out of Austin, Texas, with her small Bluemoon troupe. I was mesmerized by her soulful ballads, her original songs (like “From a Distance”) and just her fresh and spunky personality. I bought all her CD’s as well as a DVD that included her life story and excerpts from concerts. She sang many songs we would label as protests against injustice and war, but my favorite was a duet she sang with Jerry Jeff Walker on “Morning Song for Sally.” Nanci was in some ways much more popular in England and Ireland that she was in the US. Try to get a copy of her DVD. You will be blessed. We will truly miss you, sweet Nanci.
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It is amazing how complex our human bodies are, and how all our systems are integrated. I recall getting acupuncture treatments from a Chinese American colleague in Central Asia. The pain was in my right shoulder. He directed his pins to my left ankle. It really helped! He showed me a diagram of the human body’s nerve system, and it had what seemed like miles of connecting lines and links. Fast forward to the present. After my gall bladder was removed, I noticed several health improvements that seemingly had nothing to do with my gall bladder. I had been experiencing pain at the soles of both feet, even when lying on my back in bed. My research said it was neuropathy.
All of a sudden, it was gone. And I was gasping for air any time I rolled over on my side in bed. No longer. My energy levels have increased, and I wonder what other minor issues are also history, somehow mysteriously connected to my gall bladder. Our primary care physician is a pioneer in integrative, or functional medicine. Dr Aaron Hartman is an amazing guy, and publishes a blog with all manner of very useful information. He says fully 80% of all human diseases originate in the gut. So what and how we eat really matters.
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It is tragic that the country with the most advanced medicine in the world, with free access to vaccinations that have been proven to protect against the most serious ill effects of COVID-19, and communications systems that literally run everywhere within the country now finds itself with the highest incidence of the COVID-19 Delta variant in the entire world. Think about that. Fully one third of our adult population refuse vaccination, for reasons that are difficult to comprehend. The fact that many, if not most, claim to be Christians is nothing short of a theological embarrassment.
The very people who ought to be making decisions that protect others, including their own children, are actively resisting desperate calls for cooperation even while their medical facilities are running out of capability. And some of their political leaders at the state and local levels are using their offices to make the pandemic more effective in spreading in their communities and needlessly killing more of their people. I hope and pray that this unpatriotic disunity and rebellion does not prove a template for how our people react when attacked by a foreign power. Have we gotten so drunk on individual freedom and distrust of government leaders that we no longer have the minimum cohesion essential for survival? Is individual responsibility now an option? I pray not.
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Living in the United States is a great blessing. Yes, we have our problems, and always have. But it is as if we live in a protected bubble of comfort, peace, security and, compared to the rest of the world, affluence and luxury. I fear that this bubble will burst during the rest of my lifetime, and a majority population of self-centered, entitled, clinically obese adults will have a very rude awakening. Will they, will all of us, prove worthy of the blood spilled by so many of our military veterans who unselfishly answered the call to put country ahead of self, over so many generations. I pray the answer to that existential question is a resounding YES. But only time will tell.
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