So. I saw a picture of Noelle Bush and, instead of wondering about grassroots corruption or judicial review or something dutiful like that, I wondered how I'd look if I cut my hair in a style like hers.

Ghastly, I'm sure; my hair's far too thin to ever develop the fullness needed to pull it off. I do need dye, though. My recent scissor fest seems to have emphasized the dark-blond roots, the coppery strands, the residual red streaks. Ergo, I look a bit like a patchwork quilt right now. Wish I had naturally dark hair; at least dark roots look dramatic, in a sense. Lighter ones just make a person appear to be going bald.

There. Hair and politics. But because I'm more inclined to superficiality right not, I talked too much about the hair. Must remedy; equality and all. So now, politics, not that I know a thing about them.

But. This war issue? No. Not a good idea. And I'm aware there's already enough of a mess centering around the question of why the heck the US doesn't just kill Mr. Hussein already, but I still can't help but wonder where the heck the CIA is now that they're needed. They've done such a good job over the years of faithfully dispatching so many leaders in favor of democracy; why stop now? Or do they think we need to take on Hussein and bin Laden both at once, too? It's be a bit distracting, I think, and if I can see it I'm sure others can.

There's a protest in DC. Nothing new there, but I'm thinking I might go. I've never participated in any such thing before, namely because I don't care and I don't believe in a lot of the platforms. Ergo, I've no clue how effective such things are from this perspective. If nothing else, it'll be a broadening experience. It honestly does seem sensible to stay as we are for now, though. War is idiotic to begin with.

And that's a whole new matter in itself. Yes, the idea of war is pretty inane-- two groups hack at each other until one group runs out of firepower--but we have yet to find a better, functioning way of managing our problems.

I watched The Patiot when it was shown on campus on September eleventh. Not a bad movie, although the thought running through my head throughout most of it was something along the lines of, dear heavens, we're such dunces.

It's actually a little ironic. We've been killing each other forever, the mighty homo sapiens, and we're still at it even though we've managed to put men on the moon, shrink the world into microchips, and so on. We progress so rapidly; why is it that some of the most important things stagnate? Oh, warfare advances: we have plenty of pretty new methods of tearing each other apart. But you'd think we'd have puzzled out an entirely new solution by now.

"Can't we all just get along ?" indeed. Apparently not. No sitting down and working out our differences for us. We can even use peace talks to heighten violence, that's how good we are. In all-out war one side is never sure what the other side is up to. But if reconciliations are going on, if both sides talk things over first, it becomes so much easier for one side to accuse the other of breaking the rules. And then, surprise, everyone's even more frustrated than before. Lovely humanity, turning restrictions into catalysts for more trouble.

Open Skies comes to mind. If we hadn't been holding summits and Gary Powers had flown over Russia, yes, he'd probably have been shot down anyway. But it wouldn't have mattered nearly as much as it did when he flew there after Khrushchev refused to allow the open skies policy. Had the talk never occurred, the Paris Summit wouldn't have collapsed, Eisenhowever wouldn't have painted himself into a corner, Khrushchev wouldn't have been as angry as he was at the US for carrying on with Open Skies anyway--because he wouldn't have already forbidden it.

Looking at things one way, war is merciful in its ruthlessness. If negotiations work out, excellent, but that would be too bloody easy for us. We have to be calculating and equivocal, selling each other out, manipulating each other behind diplomatic masks. If anyone ever deciphers all the subtleties of the human psyche, do let me know. I'm starting to reconsider becoming a hermit.

But yes, The Patriot. They showed so many scenes of American families being torn apart, friends dying beside friends, how much suffering British brought upin the colonies. It's a movie, yes, bad guys and good guys clearly cut.

But in real life, nothing is ever so clear. On the other side, the enemy side, there are people with families and troubles of their own. Maybe toubles like Mel Gibson's reluctant character, who only began fighting after what happened to his family. Maybe there's someone on the other side fighting because his world was torn apart, too. And maybe he thinks the only way he can stop the tearing is to tear the other side apart first. Maybe he doesn't believe in it, but thinks it's all that can be done anymore.

They aren't evil just because they're the enemy, y'know.

But even if there is a man on the other side in a situation similar to Mel Gibson's, they don't tell us about him. Even if he dies, if millions like him die, well, the movie isn't about them. But in real life, each person is the center of his or her own little movie.

War's lousy, that's what it comes down to. We resolve conflicts by gathering up large chunks of our population, sticking 'em on fields opposite each other and having them shoot holes through each other until both sides are too fed up to go on, and sooner or later someone gives in. It may take awhile. Man is stubborn and pigheaded and even if fighting seems stupid, he's always quick to counter, "Well, do you know a better way to settle things?"

Sure. Talks, meetings, negotiations. If only we could be sure they'd all go smoothly. As of now, the best we can do is maintain mutual good behavior with the opposite party, and even that doesn't come easy. But if it works, if we can maintain it, isn't it just a bit better than the alternative?

But man is impetuous and impulsive and man wants action now. And war keeps its reign because we are bloodthirsty and want to accomplish everything before our evanescent lives come to an end, never mind we may die trying; how funny. We want to accomplish things now, even if it means blowing off another person's head. And that's just the first shot.

Enough rambling. It's past my bedtime.

Adieu.