On Reading a Bit of Good News.
Don't know if anyone reads this, but it doesn't really matter; it is good for my character.
Today I read this in the New Yorker in an article by Dan Baum:
"During the early weeks of the Iraq war, the television set in my office was tuned all day to CNN, with the sound muted. On the morning of April 3rd, as the Army and the Marines were closing in on Baghdad, I happened to look up at what appeared to be a disaster in the making. A small unit of American soldiers was walking along a street in Najaf when hundreds of Iraqis poured out of the buildings on either side. Fists waving, throats taut, they pressed in on the Americans, who glanced at one another in terror. I reached for the remote and turned up the sound. The Iraqis were shrieking, frantic with rage. From the way the lens was lurching, the cameraman seemed as frightened as the soldiers. This is it, I thought. A shot will come form somewhere, the Americans will open fire, and the world will witness the My Lai massacre of the Iraq war. At that moment, an American officer stepped through the crowd holding his rifle high over his head with the barrel pointed to the ground. Against the backdrop of the seething crowd, it was a striking gesture--almost Biblical. 'Take a knee,' the officer said, impassive behind surfer sunglasses. The soldiers looked at him as if he were crazy. Then one after another, swaying in their bulky body armor and gear, they knelt before the boiling crowd and pointed their guns at the ground. The Iraqis fell silent, and their anger subsided The oficer ordered his men to withdraw.
It took two months to track down Lieutenant Colonel Chris Hughes,..."
Brilliant! Amazing! This pleased me so much, to read an instance confirming what I believe so strongly, that most of us are good and decent and often wise. There are some creeps and oh are they ever creeps. But most of us are just fine, thank you.
Today I read this in the New Yorker in an article by Dan Baum:
"During the early weeks of the Iraq war, the television set in my office was tuned all day to CNN, with the sound muted. On the morning of April 3rd, as the Army and the Marines were closing in on Baghdad, I happened to look up at what appeared to be a disaster in the making. A small unit of American soldiers was walking along a street in Najaf when hundreds of Iraqis poured out of the buildings on either side. Fists waving, throats taut, they pressed in on the Americans, who glanced at one another in terror. I reached for the remote and turned up the sound. The Iraqis were shrieking, frantic with rage. From the way the lens was lurching, the cameraman seemed as frightened as the soldiers. This is it, I thought. A shot will come form somewhere, the Americans will open fire, and the world will witness the My Lai massacre of the Iraq war. At that moment, an American officer stepped through the crowd holding his rifle high over his head with the barrel pointed to the ground. Against the backdrop of the seething crowd, it was a striking gesture--almost Biblical. 'Take a knee,' the officer said, impassive behind surfer sunglasses. The soldiers looked at him as if he were crazy. Then one after another, swaying in their bulky body armor and gear, they knelt before the boiling crowd and pointed their guns at the ground. The Iraqis fell silent, and their anger subsided The oficer ordered his men to withdraw.
It took two months to track down Lieutenant Colonel Chris Hughes,..."
Brilliant! Amazing! This pleased me so much, to read an instance confirming what I believe so strongly, that most of us are good and decent and often wise. There are some creeps and oh are they ever creeps. But most of us are just fine, thank you.
posted by Barbara Buttel @ 8:46 AM
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