Click here for CNN's report of the Libian attacks
The minute Brian Williams appeared on my screen for the daily 5:30 world news, i noticed a very, very tired look in his expression. Call me crazy, but by watching someone 30 minutes everyday since you first watched television, you pick up on these things. Anywho, Brian looked more concerned and worried than usual. First briefed headline of the evening? U.S. sends military aid to Libya. GREAT.
Then the next few minutes were a difficult few to decode, so let's go through this step by step.
Step 1: I look over at my dad. Well, actually I was in the process of looking over at my dad, but I could have guessed his expression just as easily coming from the loud "YES!!!" I heard coming from his direction on the couch.
Step 2: I begin to develop a sense of disappointment in Obama for agreeing to go through with this intervention
Step 3: My younger brother hears my dad yell "YES!!!" and gets frightened and jumps up from the couch, almost taking his dinner down with him
Step 4: My mom has a look of both disappointment and dissatisfaction; both in due to the news report as well as the few grains of rice that had spilled out of my brother's bowl
Step 5: Brian continues on to the second headline briefing of radiation discovered in Japanese food
Step 6: I sigh heavily and begin to think about how the world is going to end with us eating radiated food and being drenched in bombs while my mom is trying to shush my dad up so she can listen to the rest of the Japanese story
Step 7: My dad keeps yelling yes and clapping his hands and gets up and starts to do a happy dance
Step 8: We all begin to laugh; but inside I am truthfully thinking that Obama seems to be making a mistake...
Step 9: we finally make it through watching the news.
It's a weird feeling developing a different idea than of someone in your family. Usually with events relating to the Middle East, I agree with my father and understand his point of view much better than most. However, I couldn't find it in my heart to really support the U.S. military action now taken in Libya.
So the same day, I have a few friends come over. As we start discussing the news like the awesome/cool geeks we are, I bring up the U.S. military intervention in Libya. A surge of Deja vu overwhelms me as they both begin to throw their hands in the air and yell, "YES!!!"
Okay by this point I was seriously getting ticked. Why was everyone supporting this notion? To go in and bomb another country? We are already in two un-winnable wars in the Middle East! Why another?! DID YOU NOT READ MY LAST IN-CLASS ESSAY???? HELLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO AMERICA IMPLEMENTING THEIR DEMOCRATIC WAYS IN MIDDLE EAST = BIG NO NO. TRUST ME.
But then the explanations began pouring out: "but see they are killing innocent civilians....", "Lybia is America's established country! We need to support it....", "the guy is crazy! We gotta send in re-enforcements! We aren't battling, just dropping bombs here and there."
Okay yes, but 1) America has no money 2) our resources are already (and still ) in Iraq and Afghanistan 3) is it really America's responsibility?
I feel bad for all the innocent lives that these brutal uprisings in Lybia and across the middle east have brought, however is America really needed in this too? I'm sure my opinion of this U.S. intervention will change within the course of this involvement, however as of now, I'm just not seeing how or why America is taking initative in Lybia. I mean, okay yes I do understand, however I'm just confused on how and what to feel. In the mean time, the president still has my support; it's just unclear to me (as of now) how much of it is really there.
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