"The situation was better under Sadaam Hussein," he said.
Now Playing: The computer's cooling fan
Topic: Realism
No, I am not dead just yet, although no one ever knows when he will be.

I was just reading an artricle about the deterioration of the school in Iraq...along with and in addition to everything else there, apparently. I was struck by one young gentleman's quote "The situation was better under Sadaam Hussein..."

I had often wondered how many Iraqis felt that way, if not as a constant belief, then as a passing thought. I certainly feel that way for them, if only as an outsider looking in on what's going on there now versus what I knew of it before. And certain old adages keep popping into my mind every time I see the destruction going on there. 1. You don't know what you got till it's gone. 2. It's better to deal with the devil you know than the one you don't.

"Et tu, Brute?"
Mood:  blue
Topic: Realism
Have you ever experienced a scenario in which there can be no good outcome? Regardless of what happens, it's going to be bad?

Have you ever wondered exactly how Julius Caesar felt when his good friend Brute joined in on his execution? Legend has it that he stopped resisting and surrendered to his fate. I wonder if it was disbelief that froze him, with his mind unable to reconcile such a seemingly improbable scenario. I do know that betrayal has a paralyzing effect on a person. The enormity of the disbelief--the shock!--of seeing a friend or a loved one aid in your undoing is like being pilloried in a suit of lead. The mind is addled and all thoughts retreat to but a singular "You too?" And of course, the obligatory "why" or "how could you."