The Parallel

There are times when living on base seems like living in some parallel dimension where I can hear things that happen in the city of Baghdad, and I can see things in Baghdad and I can smell the fires burning in Baghdad...but I never really know what is happening in those streets.  I was watching the news while at work this past weekend and every network was broadcasting images of thousands of Iraqis marching through the city waving flags and yelling slogans in protest to the pact that would allow U.S. forces to stay in Iraq for three more years. And it occurred to me that throughout the day on Saturday I may have registered sounds or smoke in the distance but it was not until the imagery on the news alerted me to the demonstration that I became aware the day was anything other than average.

It is astounding to me that something so monumental and historical could have occurred so close to where I reside yet due to obscurity and confines of my employment I will never witness such significant events. You may wonder why I wish to be on the other side of the wall where my life would be in undoubtedly more danger, but to be so close yet blind to the events that will shape the future of this country and the future of international relations make me feel, in some ways, as though I'm not really even here.