How long wilt thou sleep, O sluggard?

I am terribly afraid that many in this world have "tuned out" the ongoing war. Why do I say this? Sgt. Missick has an article in his blog that describes the truth about this war as compared to past wars:

A Line in the Sand June 1, 2004

It seems remarkable just how virulent the anti-war sentiments truly are. The sacrifices required by American’s in this era, in this war, are very few compared to other times. I spoke of proportion yesterday, and the lack of it historically speaking, in American society. Indeed, the only people truly, deeply affected by this war in American society are those soldiers that are here, and their families and friends who are left to cope with their absence and the stress and longing it brings. There are no rationing of food stuffs, no limits on the purchases of gasoline, last time I checked, pennies were still being minted with their copper coatings and baseball games are in full swing. Completely tuning out the media, if it were possible, would mean that you were left essentially unaffected by this war. In this, it is only the newspapers, the magazines, internet sources and television news that interrupts the daily lives of the average American to remind them that there is a war at the crossroads of civilization, where American’s are securing a free republic in a land of oppression. It is essentially, an irritability with the glimpses of war, the ones we are forced to gaze wearily upon here every day. The lack of comfort that plagues soldiers, (and there are no complaints about that here mind you), are not felt from the comfort of a sofa choosing which 24 hour news service you wish to get your info-tainment from on any given evening. It is therefore, an intolerance to the disruption these images cause and/or an idealism that war, any war, is bad regardless of it’s cause, regardless of its purpose that leads to this dissent.

His point, that if we just turn off the news and tune out the media, we'd be unaffected by this war is just what I fear many Americans have done. Driven by frustration with an ever negative slant on everything presented, many in this country and probably others have just given up on the news. I would guess that just about everyone reading this blog right now could think of some of their friends or acquaintances who are doing just this.

The title of this blog is from the book of Proverbs (Chapter 6, verse 9) and the chapter goes on to describe how this "sleep" will lead to our downfall. We need to wake up, and to wake the sleeping. This is a time in our generation's history of the world which will set up future generations for either a period of relative peace and prosperity, or condemn them to a life of more strife than we have ever seen.

The question is, how to wake those who are so groggy with sleep - those who won't read anything for themselves, those who need to be spoon fed? Sometimes, it just requires "spoon feeding". There are some who cannot and will not ever get excited about things that they do not see as directly affecting themselves. They don't seem to realize just how self-absorbed they are, but if you're reading this, you probably see it in them. Key is trying to get things across to them in a way that will touch their feelings. Send 'em emails that seem appropriate. Read to 'em about the injustices that you find. It may take time, but if you can wake just one "sleeper", they in turn may wake others. This is vital to our surviving in the relative peace we (as Americans) have always known.

I'll leave you with a great, often cited quote (but that doesn't make it any less valid) by Edmund Burke: The only thing needed for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing.

Kayz Out