In the various tales of vampires, there is a common tradition about inviting them inside: Once you have welcomed vampires into your home, they are then free to enter your home any time.
Like many mythological ideas, this one is grounded in truth: Before agreeing to something, it is wise to understand not just what we are agreeing to, but whom we are dealing with.
Continuing yesterday’s theme (today being the 10th anniversary of the American war in Iraq), the following open letter from Tomas Young to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney provides a searing reminder of this truth. The letter is from a young man who is currently dying from injuries sustained during his service in Iraq.
In the letter, he points out that he had enlisted two days after the destruction of the World Trade Center, to fight those who had attacked the U.S.
Now, as he spends his last days in a hospice bed, he is processing the fact that his enlistment gave our government the legal right to send him to fight any war it wished — even a war that had nothing at all to do with those attacks against the U.S..
A sad reminder that once you invited vampires in, you no longer have power against them. Alas, the vampires at your door can appear very presentable.
Sometimes they even wear nice suits.
Wow. Very powerful.