Laundry
Today I was folding laundry, thinking about how this is one of my least favorite tasks. I had many loads to fold (because I dislike doing this so much and tend to let it pile up-- hey, who will care or see it?). I was thinking that I should post to my blog about how much I hate folding laundry; surely there are others out there that dislike this task.
About 1/3 of the way through I turned on the radio to NPR. On the program was a story about women military personnel who had served in Iraq and who had come back injured, some of them very severely. They were telling of their experiences. Stories of doing their jobs and then suddenly being blown up, ambushed, or otherwise attacked. Many of them didn't remember much except waking up in the hospital, discovering they were mutilated, burned, disfigured, maimed, or all of the above.
The common thread in their stories: courage and conviction to get back to life, to take care of their families, and to go on living a life that may never be normal. There wasn't any mention of the legitimacy of the war (which I won't go into here), just a unanimous voice of determination and guts.
I cannot help but admire these brave women, and feel deeply ashamed that I was on the verge of complaining about having to fold laundry. I hang my head in disgust at my self-absorbed, narrow-minded view of life when so many good women and men are out there putting themselves in harms way, getting injured, and dying. Again...I won't comment on the legitimacy of the war. This is irrelevant to their stories in this case.
I thank my lucky stars that I'm folding laundry, and I salute and admire each and every one of these courageous people.
May the war end soon, and bring our women and men home, where hopefully, they can fold laundry and complain about it, because that is the worst that they have to deal with.
God knows they have been through more than most of us can possibly imagine.
About 1/3 of the way through I turned on the radio to NPR. On the program was a story about women military personnel who had served in Iraq and who had come back injured, some of them very severely. They were telling of their experiences. Stories of doing their jobs and then suddenly being blown up, ambushed, or otherwise attacked. Many of them didn't remember much except waking up in the hospital, discovering they were mutilated, burned, disfigured, maimed, or all of the above.
The common thread in their stories: courage and conviction to get back to life, to take care of their families, and to go on living a life that may never be normal. There wasn't any mention of the legitimacy of the war (which I won't go into here), just a unanimous voice of determination and guts.
I cannot help but admire these brave women, and feel deeply ashamed that I was on the verge of complaining about having to fold laundry. I hang my head in disgust at my self-absorbed, narrow-minded view of life when so many good women and men are out there putting themselves in harms way, getting injured, and dying. Again...I won't comment on the legitimacy of the war. This is irrelevant to their stories in this case.
I thank my lucky stars that I'm folding laundry, and I salute and admire each and every one of these courageous people.
May the war end soon, and bring our women and men home, where hopefully, they can fold laundry and complain about it, because that is the worst that they have to deal with.
God knows they have been through more than most of us can possibly imagine.
posted by Some Guy at 6:46 PM
1 Comments:
Hey. Laundry DOES suck. And yes. I get your point. We have asked these men and women to do our dirty work, and yet, we're cutting their benefits, sending them off to war in flimsy armour, and, in general, telling them that they don't matter.
I know you're trying not to comment on the war, but given that yesterday was the 2-year mark, there are 1520 dead, and who knows how many billions pumped in, I could scream.
But, on a lighter note, of all the chores I wish someone else would do for me, laundry is the top of the list. It sounds like you're not available to be my personal laundry boy.
Post a Comment
<< Home