Dear Mr. President,
We should learn from experience that there are some parts of the world where we have no business being. Like over there, for example: no strategic resources, no real threat to our national security -and what do we get in return other than a growing list of casualities by IEDs, out of control insurgencies and what not? It is heartbreak all over.
Our efforts should be concentrated in that other part of the world where we may be getting something back for our lives lost in battle. One may say, who cares? What is the real difference between that part, and that part? For starters, there are a bunch of continents out there. And even though our enemies around the world may understand each other by virtue of speaking similar dialects of foreign, the fact remains that they are not exactly the same.
You got the chinese-like, and a whole scale of darks, from light dark to really dark, which is not necessarily a measure of evil, as you may or may not know.
Consequently, Mr. President, we should fine-tune our actions when we are far and beyond our borders. We should also take into account our needs. Take over there, for example, where we’ve had our troops blasted a million times by suicide attackers. How can you expect to win anything from a citizenry that enjoys blowing themselves up? And, again, what is the payoff for us? (...) Exactly!
Now, if you go to that other part of the world, at least there’s oil under the sand, and milder winters too. It is there, not there, where we have bothered ourselves to give out a ton of candy, which is a good thing. What I say is keep the goodies going as they can do no harm, but at the same token do not think for one moment that marshmallows alone will win all the hearts of all the people, all the time (notice the repeated italization of key-word all). We need to brainstorm some strategies that are more location-specific, as what is good over there may be detrimental there.
The world is a hard-to-read, complicated arena, Mr. President, and to make matters even more confusing, now we have to deal with that other part that may require a totally different thinking if we are really serious about wanting to prevent the crisis from spreading to other like-places.
I hope you didn’t mind me offering this constructive criticism which aims ultimately at bettering our understanding of ourselves in a global context. I believe the complexities mentioned above should encourage you to take different approaches.
You have a deck of cards in your hand, Mr. President, and it is contingent upon you to call a club a club, and a spade a spade by recognizing the numerous nuances that set them apart, and by identifying the challenges and rewards presented by there and there, respectively.
Very truly yours,
Leo V. Thompson
