Moti Sorkin, soldier and Claremont McKenna grad, is back from Afghanistan and I have been reading through his blog once more. I heartily recommend his blog for anyone who seeks to understand the kind of "armed social work" our troops are doing over there. (I have added him to the blog roll, too.)
In addition to serving his country with his time and deeds in Afghanistan, Sorkin serves all of us with his words. He didn't have to go, but he went all the same.
He might never speak at the Ath about how to make the world a better place, but his blog, and in particular this passage, makes me think that the high costs of this war are worth it after all.
There is, however, a population sector that seems to get it. Perhaps it's a universal truth, but the local children don't seem to have been born defeated.
A while ago a group of 50 kids showed me the results of a recent visit from enemy fighters. They pointed out a charred spot on the ground, where masked men had burned the kids' jackets, books, and shoes. As I looked at the burn pile one of the children shyly asked me for a pen. I asked him why, when the enemy would just burn it sometime in the future. In response he pulled a pen out of his pocket, which we had brought to him a couple weeks before. He refused to hand it over when the Taliban came to the village, and he said he would do the same thing in the future. He smiled shyly, and put the pen back into his pocket.
Had I been born as an Afghan child, I hope that I would have been as brave as that kid. It's not easy to stand against cruel and uncompromising fanatics, especially when your elders take the path of least resistance. But kids like that represent the future, and between their courage and our help, things continue to grow more promising over here.
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