Kia Ora-

This is my second post today.

I've just really stepped back and contemplated everything that's going on in the world today. I'm pretty cool and accepting of what will happen will happen, and I haven't even thought about the least bit scared until right now. What shook me back is when my mom was telling me how wigged out about the whole thing, the news stories of people starting to panic and buy thinks like tinned food and duct tape and plastic sheeting. Then seeing the British and all the searches around Heathrow (with tanks and a total of 1,500 police/military guarding) looking much like Beruit was a pretty intense sight.

I think that 8 years of covert wars under Clinton (Bosnia, Somalia, etc.) has made us forget about direct threat. It's been 13 years since the Soviets were pointing missles at us. We haven't had an open challenger and we've become pretty complacent. Now we're faced with a hidden enemy streched out and creeping up on us (al-Qaeda), a potential severe enemy arming up (North Korea), and an old enemy riling everyone up in between (Iraq). The world is a scary place right now.

Al-Qaeda wants this holy crusade to come to a head and they will ally with their own enemies to crush a common foe (secular Sadaam and religious Osama). I know many Muslem students at USF and I don't think that the Allah they worship is the same one that Osama's gang worships. This isn't the Cross and the Cresent clash that they want it to be.

And North Korea has a missle that could potentially strike the West Coast of America. Fuck. Not just for California, but that kind of range could easily reach Australia, New Zealand, Samoa, Japan to the east, and Johannesburg, Moscow, Paris, and London to the west. That puts it in perspective--Korea can target just about every country on the face of the Earth.

And Sadaam. What can we say about that?

And rockets falling from the sky, the most popular entertainer on in the world openly admitting enjoying to sleep with children (albeit denying 'sleeping with' means anything more than sleeping), everyday life obsessed with the profane and immoral, and the Buccaneers winning the Super Bowl... It makes you truly think if this is the beginning of the end.

But I refuse to be scared. If it's time for me to go then I can't do anything about it. I can just do my best and keep the faith.

Still, I do sleep with my .357 within reach.

I've had this song going through my head all day. It's by Larry Norman, and it's called If The Bombs Fall, though later he did a version called When The Bombs Fall. Sure, whenever there's some sort of international crisis the first thought is End Times, but each time it gets more and more real. Life is crazy out there. But I've found some comfort in these lyrics:

If the bombs fall, baby I love you,
If they end it all, baby I love you
Through it all, I want you to know I love you.

Silver raindrops falling from on high
While a dark red cloud fills up the sky,
I don't want our love to end this way.

What about the songs we haven't sung?
What about the things we haven't done?
What's the matter with this world today?

Well, If the bombs fall, baby I love you,
If they end it all, baby I love you
Through it all, I want you to know I love you.

You and I are still so very young,
And with love, the best is yet to come,
God has let me choose you - I don't wanna lose you.

Who can say tomorrow will find its way?
Who can say the sun will shine today
Baby I adore you, that's why I'm living for you.

But if the bombs fall, baby I love you,
If they end it all, baby I love you
Through it all, I want you to know I love you.

And through the years and all the long hard miles,
We'll shed some tears, but we will share the smiles.
Don't cry, I want you to know I love you.

If the bombs fall, baby I love you,
If they end it all, baby I love you
Through it all, I want you to know I love you.

This world of ours been here a long, long time
And the stars above, I love to watch them shine.
I need your love to lead this life of mine.

Heart...keep the faith,

-N.