Thoughts Outside The Wire

A gust of wind swirls sand into a devil
Pushing forcefully into the windows
Of our beat up truck

I cough and sneeze and laugh at
The absurdity of my life as we pull
Up to the ANA gate

Tom offers water to a group of
ANA and ANP and they crowd
Our windows as quickly as
Begging children,
Their hands darting about as our
Heads swivel this way and that,
Items disappear in a flash

“No!” we tell them,
“You can't have the coffee!”
“One water each!”

You let them rape you once
And you'll be a victim each
And every time after that

We pull out as the greedy
Soldiers and police drift away,
Their AK's hanging in a
Lazy malicious manner,
Their smiles really just sneers
Hidden well in their deeply creased
And tanned faces

The rest of the trip is
Quiet and serene,
I gaze at stray dogs lopping about
Or panting in a bit of shade,
Birds spontaneously combust
Across a light blue sky
And an occasional Afghan man
Walking alongside the road

I think of how easy it is to judge
From the comforts of the west
The lives led by others
In harsher climes

The Afghan landscape is apocalyptic
Crumbling buildings
Desert
Bare mountains of hot rock
Children in rags and covered in filth
Burnt out remnants of past conflict and neglect

I think of how altered my perception
Of reality would be had I been born here
And I cannot say my morals and ideals
Built in the society I grew up in
Would be inherent to me,
Of course I can't...

I would be them
I am them
We are all each other
Dealing as best we can
With different situations and lives

And I wonder how anyone could
Ever justify judging anyone else