a thought

on friday night i watched black hawk down. it was a bit overwhelming to see what happened to us, the u.s., as we went in there to "help" the people in somalia. what was supposed to be a 30 minute mission became one that will now live on forever and may also enter history books. to see all the helpless people at the beginning not getting food and to understand we were sent over there to help the problem (by giving food) was good. but then to realize that the country was in a civil war and all the food was going to armies to keep them ready for the fighting was disheartening. even more disheartening was to find out that they didn't want us there in the first place and preceded to tell us that by shooting at us and parading dead military bodies down the streets. i kept thinking back to what i was doing on those days here in the u.s. and how i had no clue what was going on or really that anything was going on. i was a junior in high school. i had no clue as to what was going on and at that point i probably could have cared less, which is sad to say. my school had channelone, which means i was probably watching the news daily, yet I really don't have any recollection of this event. the movie needless to say was intense and it made me really think about what military service men and women are going through right now and how much their families miss them and want them at home. at any point, something could go wrong and their family member may not come home.
i knew no one there, so i guess that is why it didn't matter to me, but now things are different. i have since met two people that were highly involved in the incident, which puts a whole new perspective on the event that happened. as i watched the movie i imagined both of them there and what they must have gone through. what a new perspective it has brought me. it made me much more aware when i watched the movie to know these men were there fighting for their lives and the ones of their brothers. i am so proud of them.