Q-BLOG #20 Balance

It has been another interesting month. In August we are expecting quite a bit more activity than usual due to the deadline for the presentation of the Iraqi Constitution. We experienced some of that activity yesterday and the day prior. Fortunately this time no one was killed or injured. Previous weeks have brought many deaths for soldiers and Marines at Camp Liberty. You can feel the weariness in the air.

This morning we woke to another dust storm. Each of these is eerie in its own right, but today there was the added eeriness due to the attack last night. Silence, maybe solemnity filled the air...as did the dust. If you have not experienced a dust storm, you would find them a bit, well, curious. In the early morning it seems like a fog, or a very heavy, but light snow. As the day goes on, the color changes from a sort of grayish brown to an almost bright orange. While inside, you can see the orange peering through the blinds. It is as if someone decided to put orange Gatorade on display everywhere. If you are out in it, you immediately become covered in a light coating of dust, making your hair thicker and your skin browner. Think of cocoa dust blown all over. When you are outside and you look into the trailers, it appears as if they are tanning booths, radiating a neon blue light from the cracks in the doors and windows. Neon orange vs. neon blue. (See attached pictures…the color is as it is when you are in a Sand/Dust storm).

The day moves on and the color continues to change to a lighter neon orange, almost like a fading sunset in the desert. Yet it is mid-day. The temperature is at 80 degrees F, something we have not had here for some time. The cool temperature is welcome, even if it does come with a layer of dust.

I was thinking about some of the things that make living at Camp Liberty interesting and even funny sometimes. One must have a sense of humor to get through most of life, and that certainly applies at Liberty. Some ways one might know they are in Iraq:

1. When you go to the dining halls, there is a sign that you would never see anywhere else. It states:

“No Uniform, No ID, No Weapon, No Entrance”

2. The porta pottie doubles as a sauna.

3. R&R, EOT, PX, MWR are repeated daily and frequently and everyone knows what they mean. (R&R-Rest and Relaxation. EOT-End Of Tour. PX-Post Exchange. MWR-Morale-Welfare-Recreation, or the Gym.)

4. You are really lucky if you live in a trailer.

5. Power outages and water outages are normal.

6. You travel from one installation to another via a Taxi service, with Black Hawk’s or Chinooks being the Taxi’s.

7. Everyone either drives a Humvee or a Pajero. Accessories for the Humvee vary.

9. 110 degrees is considered a cool.

10. Even in the middle of a war, people can complain about the food, the service and the lack of selection of items to buy.

I’ve begun taking a couple of martial arts classes in the morning. This is something that I’ve always wanted to do, but have never been brave enough to step out of my comfort zone to actually do. I’m doing it now. I’ve learned quite a bit about myself from participating in these classes. One day there was only two of us and our Tansei was able to spend more time with us. He talked to us about tapping into and letting our energy flow. “Chi” is what he called it. I’ve heard this before, and in many ways believe it, but sort have just kept it at bay. As he talked about it, I began to realize how important this “Chi” was, not just to me, but to each of us. Visions of Luke Skywalker and words about “the Force” being with you raced across my mind. A book title, “Let Your Life Speak” and the message within was being recalled. Synchronicity, it is amazing how it works when you are tuned in to it! The force is not always positive energy though. We felt that this week.

The world around me feels out of synch. I feel it throughout my body and my spirit. I’m praying, wishing, hoping that balance is restored. It is such a tenuous balance, always tipping one way or the other. Right now it feels like a tug of war. A tug of war.

I end this blog with this thought. Why not a tug of peace? Maybe it is resistance itself that causes friction; war. If we achieved true “chi” ,defined by some as ‘the capture of the “subtle breath” flow of heaven and earth fused into the human body’, where would we be? How could we not achieve balance? Maybe then there would be a tug of peace.

May the “chi” be with you!

Amen.
Robert