Brother Deployed to Iraq

For those that didn’t know, yesterday my brother Trenton was deployed to Iraq along with the rest of his national guard unit. While some in my family have served in the military, Trenton is the first one to be shipped out to the front line.

I can’t begin to articulate the whirlwind of emotions I’m going through but I can touch on the ones I feel most. First and foremost Love. Love for a brother who may soon be in harms way…for a brother of a different generation and with whom I’ve had a hard time connecting to. A man who I remember just being a boy who now struggles about in a world where it is increasingly difficult to find a place. And how I hope and pray that he will stay safe and will find his place in life as he serves this country.

Anger. Anger for a presidential administration that has been acting wrong from day one. One that managed to get by my opposing vote last November. One looking to pick a fight with a country that hasn’t gotten better or worse in over a decade. One that turns a cheek to countries with worse problems like Haiti, like Sudan. Nothing is more frustrating than to see this country struggle as Bush Jr tries to finish something Bush Sr started. But what has me most mad is how the government takes in the poor black men from urban ghettos looking for a better life. Looking for a better life from an administration that couldn’t show up to the NAACP convention…one giving tax breaks to the wealthy then turn around and makes a mess of the economy and of oil to the point where now we are collectively broke from Iraq and Mother Nature. An administration that ignored the concerns of the then Secretary of State Colin Powell. Who then found a way to make it so unbearable that even he had to call it quits…only to be replaced by the "Yes Sir" of th e second term administration…Condeleeza Rice.

The past is the past. I refuse to dwell on the politics much longer as what has transpired cannot be undone. We are in a time where the art of leadership is fading and where ‘leaders’ are nothing more than self-proclaimed C-students. Absolutely Average.

So tonight, I pray…something I haven’t been compelled to do near as much as I should. I pray the Lord might help find this country through mediocre leaders so that someone may bring positive change…bring the focus back to America where we can deal with our own growing problems before we become the growing problem of other countries. But most important, I pray for Trenton so that he may be safe. And for my father, who has done his best in raising three children and who has succeeded despite what he may think.