No doubt this has been a very difficult year for many people here in the US and in many parts of the world. In an average year, holidays like Thanksgiving in the US and the rest of this holiday season (for those in the rest of the world) are extremely hard for some people to get through. Of course given the multiple economic shocks we have been subject to over these many months, the numbers of those hurting will be even higher.
With all the discussion of the impending decision on Afghanistan that President Obama is set to announce in the next few days, I am feeling very emotional for him and his family as he weighs this momentous decision. It cannot be easy for him to know that the decision he makes will be the best from a set of very bad options. May he get the wisdom and empathy to make a decision that is right for this country and the family members of the service men and women.
My deepest concern are for the men and women who are serving in the many places they have been asked to serve and especially those serving in Iraq and Afaghanistan. How are they and they families feeling as they hear the loud chorus of those who have no real skin in the game pushing President Obama to QUICKLY make a war-and-peace decision in which they are the central players? It is their bodies, emotions,and lives which are going to hang in the balance when the call is made for an increase.
These service men and women are far away from home and also waiting for the pending decision on troop levels. Does anyone think that we will wake up tommorrow and the news flash will say that: "President Obama Makes a Previously Unannounced Visit to Afghanistan"? I am suspicious that this could indeed happen. If it POTUS was to go there overnight, it would make a huge boost to their morale. I will wait for tommorrow but maybe nothing like this will happen
Happy thanksgiving to all of us who are here home and safe and may peace come to the world