Look at the grassy field of dirty, torn, and empty boots. Boots that you realized had meaning to them when you see a name tag attached to it. A growing horror that you tried to pretend those name tag didnt mean what you thought it meant. But it did. Names. Age. Title. It was the signs of the deceased.
The Boots were a sign of protest of war. The protest against innocent killings. Of taking away life, and leaving the living behind with a pounding wave of sorrow, helplessness and angsty.
I thought it was an act of honor, to showcase those boots, which were painstakingly organized into straight lines. I thought it was a great way to show the world that the Iraq war needs to end because innocent lives were being killed.
That is, until I met my friend.
Me: "Im going to take pictures of those boots."
Friend: "Why? It's a disgrace!"
Me: "Disgrace? But these are soldiers who died in the war, and we should honor them."
Friend: "Fine, but the event is about protest against war!"
Me: "So? I think war should be stopped."
Friend: "But these people join the military to fight. It's a disgrace to use their boots to protest against war. Why else do you think I'm in the Navy?"
I took pictures anyway, but I thought what Friend said was rather true. Still, I thought of it as a way of remembering and honoring the fallen. But at the end of the day, whether there were empty boots or full boots, I stand against war, protest or no protest.
***
There is a eagle on campus. A greedy little eagle that killed a pregnant squirrel by knocking it out of a tree to the ground and flew back up to another tree branch because the squirrel was too heavy to carry. Hahahaha. After 4 hours of spectacular show from the audience, aka ka po students, the eagle finally had the chance to eat his/her meal.
***
I thought I was smart when I left work half an hour earlier to head home because I was tired. After 10 minutes in the cold, the bus finally arrived. On its way to the Llyold Noble bus-stop, a man ran across the traffic light signaling the bus to stop. It stopped, opened the doors and the man got on.
The bus driver got mad and asked the man to alight. The man pretended to be stupid.
The bus driver got madder and said that he wont drive the bus until the man alight. The man remained stupid.
The bus driver got super mad and said he will call the police to come. The man remained incredibily stupid.
The bus driver finally calls for the police on his walkie-talkie. The man continued his stupid act.
Finally the police come.
Police: "Why do you want the man to get out of the bus?"
Driver: "Because he didnt get on at the bus-stop. He just got on at the traffic light and that's wrong."
Stupid Man: "But I'm not breaking the law. I just want to go to Llyold Noble Bus stop."
Police: "Now, the bus driver is the boss here. This is his bus and passenges are supposed to get on the designated area. You are causing trouble for the driver, the passenger and me. The driver cannot continue his journey if you are on the bus. Now, please get off the bus."
Stupid Man: "Oh Ok."
Sometimes, Americans are so stubborn and full of rules. It took them 20 mins for the entire situation to resolve. By then, I could have reached home just by walking. Instead, I was forced to watch the entire male pride exchange drama that took away my initial goal of reaching home early.
If only people could learn to give way, the world would be so much more efficient.
Eg. Bus driver should have just drive on if the stupid man refused to get down! Coz passenges are depending on him and of course, the responsibility falls on serving the needs of many instead of focusing on one. I mean, stupid man could have always been reprimanded later...
Or the stupid man could just have realized that, "Hello! The bus cant move because of you and you should just freaking get off because you are disrupting the route."
I hate stubborn people.
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