Until about 20 minutes ago, the war with the Middle East meant nothing to me. It was a news clip, an AOL hyperlink. However, my friend Brett recently informed me that my friend Adam, who is an Army reservist, is going to war. On Tuesday he finds out where he’s going and when. However, he won’t know when he’s coming back. I’m going home this weekend to see him because this could be the last time I will ever see him.
As out of this world scary as that is, it is the reality. He isn’t going to work at the car shop like he does every other day. He’s going to war. He’s probably going to Afghanistan, and will probably be there until the war is over. I guess they always have reserves over there just in case.
My friend is going to war. The person I’ve drank with, raced my car against, and shared many moments of my life with, will be in the Middle East in a week or so. My friend is going to war. That has to be a line out of a book. It can’t be about me, right? I’m a college kid, nothing bad can happen to me or anyone around me. That line, “my friend is going to war,” sounds like something out of my high school Social Studies book, or a piece of literature I read about Vietnam. However, I need to come to the reality that it is true.
The weird thing is, I’m not the only one who’s being affected like this. After I found out, I had to tell some of my friends at school what was happening. A lot of people said things like, “my cousin was sent out last week,” or “my friend is already gone,” and I was shocked! I remember the stories that my mom, dad and teachers all told me about Vietnam. As I thought about this, I realized for the second time in my life I was actually living out history.
After September 11, one thing I came to realize was that it would be in our grandchildren’s history books. History is for our parents and grandparents, but not for us. We don’t live history; we just live our lives. Will these next few months and years be in history books 50 years from now? If it is, I will be able to recite stories to my grandchildren just like I’ve heard people tell stories to me.
I didn’t think anything of the war until now. I barely know who we are fighting against. All I know is we’re fighting terror. I guess now
Adam is fighting terror. Adam is fighting to save my life and the lives of my children, and the lives of their children.
When Adam originally went to the reserves he was like, “the only way anything will happen is if we go to war.” This was months before
September 11. Months before the words “bin Laden,” “small pox” and
“bio-terrorism” were dinner discussions. Now that it is, I have so much respect for him because he is fighting for all of us.
I’ve seen movies where people meet up with friends before one of them goes to war. They always have a big group hug and it’s a really emotional goodbye. It will be real surreal as my group of friends and myself hug Adam. All I can do is pray it won’t be for the last time.