What I wouldn`t give for a little ray of hope......

[democrank]

Perhaps I`m some kind of yellow-bellied freak, but I`m not doing any celebratory dance over the impending execution of Saddam Hussein. I`ve had my fill of death in Iraq. In fact, I`ve had my fill of death everywhere: Palestine, New Orleans, Darfur, Afghanistan...anywhere that humanity lost out to indifference, or worse. Normally, I`m not big on White Knights, but I`d love to see one round the bend about now. A healer-in-chief, a humanitarian, a do-gooder...one of those special people us bleeding heart liberals hope will appear to counteract the savages. There are way too many machetes, too many IEDs, too many mini-nukes, too many with face paint and way too many flag-draped caskets.

We hear chatter about a new day dawning but chances of that are rather slim so long as we insist on calling for more blood. Couldn`t a few million of us get together and buy an island to set aside for the War People? They could spend the rest of their lives blowing each other up, fighting for territory, raiding each other`s houses. They could lay down a zillion land mines, invent new nuclear weapons, design new torture techniques and have themselves one hell of a good time while the rest of us used our energy to feed the hungry, address global warming, house the homeless and help spread peace. Why does peaceful coexistence come under the heading of Foolish Utopian Thinking? Must we accept that we`ll always have plenty of money for wars but never enough for goodness?

Our miserable failure media is at it again, breathlessly whipping everyone up in a frenzy over a Death Watch. Pop the corn. Get a front row seat. If all else fails, we can scour the internet for the video of a human being hanging by his neck. Next week maybe we can graduate to watching someone burn to death or get gored by a bull. We`re past the reality shows now and straight on to gruesome. Yeah, baby, wasn`t that horrific?

My tolerance meter is broken. Although I can`t stomach any more of this stuff, I hope George Bush is enjoying his bike rides. Someone else will deal with the soldier whose leg is lying in the gravel across the road, the Baghdad Road, the Shock and Awe Road.

I`m going to concentrate on finding one meaningful thing I can do to give myself a ray of hope. What that won`t be is donating to, canvassing for or voting for anyone who supports the continuation of this American-made horror in Iraq. I`m fed up enough to not care if I`m one of only 14 people who feel this way. Enough is enough.