What a way to get out of this world.
Wrapped in a big plastic bag secured with duct tape.
A few flowers in the heat of the day in Lebanon.

how does killing anyone anytime ever make any sense

I bet we would have liked them.
I bet we would have opened our homes and backyards to them.
I bet they smiled a lot.
I bet they loved their children like we do.
I bet they buy milk and bread on their way home from work just like we do.
I bet they watch TV and laugh at us - we have so much and complain so often.
I bet they like us anyway.

how does killing anyone anytime ever make any sense

Hezbollah, Bush and Israel fight over who knows what while we pay the price for history?

I don't get it anymore. I'm too stupid to figure it out, I guess.

I frequent a Lebanese owned market and each day they treat me like a long lost friend. They lament the situation in the ME and fear for their relatives and friends. They don't challenge my citizenship or my government. Instead, they grab the freshest pita and the best olive oil and indulge my hankering for ripe tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet onions with tatziki. I buy some stuff and get the gyro sandwich for free. If it's brewed fresh, they ask me to stay for Turkish coffee with sweetened condensed milk. Last time, we watched World Cup Soccer on the 13 inch security monitor and fucked with each other like a bunch of South Dakota cowboys.

When I'm away: they keep the freshest vegetables, bananas and watermelons in the back for me. They rotate it out and when I come in we go back and find the best while they bring me up to date on their children and grandchildren. I'm going to miss these guys - my friends.

how does killing anyone anytime ever make any sense

"Democracy means that you cannot blame someone else for troubles caused by your own government. That is a comparatively new lesson ... , and whether it is learned or not will determine the prospects for democracy itself ... But dodging missiles and running from tanks is not the ideal circumstance for rational reflection on the nature of self-rule. As in Iraq, what is especially risky and worrisome about democratization through destabilization is that it comes accompanied not by peace but by the sword. In this dangerous environment, the costs of democracy ? the weakness of government, the uncertainty, the violence ? can be felt everywhere. The benefits of democracy, though, are barely palpable."

from 'Ballots and Bullets'
By NOAH FELDMAN
New York Times Sunday Magazine - Published: July 21, 2006