For far too long, it's all been like a bad dream.
Wars without end.
Bad guys behind every bush.
Extreme vigilance that turns neighbor against neighbor; citizen against citizen.
Constant fear that turns, everyone into a suspect. And normalcy into a distant memory.
It seems like a bad dream, only try as we may no one wants us to awake.
Such is the stuff, from which nightmares are made.
The nightmare that says if you're NOT for us, then you must be against us.
The nightmare that says, it's better to strike first, and ask questions later. Maybe not ask any questions, at all.
The nightmare that assumes that if you haven't done anything wrong, then you don't have anything to worry about.
The nightmare that says, your life is now an open book. Like it or not they know all there is to know about you. Or can find it out, with just a few clicks.
The nightmare that condones torture, despite the hard learned lessons of the past, about such inhumane tactics.
The nightmare that deems someone "an enemy of the state", simply for pursuing the patriotic intent of a free press. An enemy without rights, without due process.
The nightmare of a lost generation; lost to too many tours of duty. Lost to "no future" when/if they finally manage to return home.
The nightmare of untold collateral damages, that befall victims with death, reigning silently from the sky.
The nightmare that says, even though we got the No 1 bad guy -- that's still not good enough. There are even more "bad guys" waiting to rise up against us. Rise up from the shattered rubble of their now hopeless homelands.
Bad guys, waiting behind every bush.
Is our long national nightmare over yet?
It all seems like a bad dream,
only try as we may -- no one wants, to let us wake up.
Healing can only happen, once the fighting stops ...
Patriotism can only return, once the false Patriotism is sunset, for the vast overreach that it was ... and still is.