Incomplete Thoughts/War

Dude, no wonder foreigners think we go to McDonald's all the time. If our McDonald's were like this, I WOULD go all the time. Guess what I'm eating right now. Burger, fries, and a BEER. Surprise! The walls ar colorful, they have large couch-y seats, it's awesome. The only thing they screwed up is the ketchup. . . I think they actually put tomatoes in it. Unfortunately, though, the Internet isn't working. Which was the purpose of me coming here. So I am using a word document until I finish my food, and then I'll forage for internet. I really hope I find some, because my head is really full.

Seriously, it really fills up fast. I think I need a bigger head or something. There's so much I want to put on here, and then there are things that I want to email/facebook people individually, AND I journal for all the stuff that I just want to keep to myself but I want to be able to sort out on paper. Thankfully, I pretty much always have my journal with me, so that stuff doesn't get trapped in my head for long.
Anyways, I guess I'll start with. . .

YESTERDAY:

Yesterday felt painted. The sky was my favorite: bright blue sky with big, white fluffy clouds. I got to wear my cute new dress. I mostly rode the hop-on-hop-off bus. I hopped off at this one place that was BEAUTIFUL. I lovelovelove gardens. I think they're one of my favorite things. And this one was. . . awesome. Big fountains, colorful flowers, beautiful palace/building/thing in the background. I really, really loved it. So I sat there and ate my "lunch" (bread + cheese) and walked through to the end where I hoped to go to the Catacombs as per the suggestion of one Jazmin Aguilera. But they were closed on Mondays. Super lame. So I walked around the town a little - it was a cute little area, and I eventually got back on the bus.

I hopped on and hopped off for the rest of the day. I went to a war museum. I think those are my favorite kind of museums, except for greek/roman sculptures. But they always leave an impression on me. In fact, while I was there I was internally-blogging about the current wars that we're in. And how it's weird that nobody cares, or really knows what all is going on. I wondered if people would be more involved if there was a draft and those were our brothers, sons, and husbands fighting over there. Or if the women were involved the sisters, wives, and daughters were the ones caring for the wounded, instead of faceless doctors somewhere overseas. Would we care more? If yes, is it selfish for us to NOT care just because we think we're not direclty effected?

It reminded me of a football game. (Stay with me for a second). At Cal on game weekends, some people painted up, put on their Cal gear, and went up the stadium. They cared about every down, every touchdown, every fumble, ever incomplete, everything. It was real. They may not have been down on the field, in the war zone, but they were very much connected to their team. When their team won, they won. When their team lost, they lost.

And then there was the other crowd. The crowd that continued wearing the green or orange shirts, didn't bother changing into their blue & gold. They didn't hike up to Memorial Stadium. They didn't watch their team score. They didn't see when their players were injured.

But it still happened.

I feel like we've all chosen to stay home from the game. But that doesn't make the score any less real. The passes are still being thrown. The bullets are still being shot. There are still first downs. There are still people down. There are still touch downs. There are still casualties.

So why don't we care? Why is it that so many of us are willing to suit up in blue & gold, but we don't take the time to care about what's going on with the BIGGER team we're on. Because regardless of if we suit up, when THEY do, they represent US. So don't we want to make sure we act like a team. If they're playing a game/fighting a war (or 5) that we don't want our team playing/fighting, shouldn't we try and do something about it? That's our team.

So why don't we care?

I think that's something that really strikes me about war museums. Especially war museums in the place where the war was fought. The people there cared. They had to. They didn't have the choice of whether or not they wanted to suit up and walk to the stadium, they were on the field. Men, women, and children were on the field. They had to care. As Americans, we have the privilege (I'm hesitant to use that word) to choose. Our schools aren't being bombed. Our backyard isn't a war zone. But I don't think it's too much to ask for us to know a little about what's going on down there on the field, much less that there's even a game being played. Our apathy is dangerous. If nobody is in the stadium, the game can get really dirty really fast. Maybe, the more eyes, the cleaner the fight. Maybe. Maybe?

So, yep. Went to the war museum.
(finished. Going to try to move locations.)

(Just came into a little hotel to ask if they knew other places with wi-fi. They said I could use theirs for a little bit, but not a long time. So I'm going to put up what I have. Sorry it's super incomplete! I'll try to find more wi-fi after!)