Rural Dreams

Moral Calculus

"Americans will judge the rightness and wrongness of the Iraq war based on how many American casualties there are. The deaths of Iraqis hardly enters into that moral calculus. Knowing that, the administration has crafted an attack on Iraq that will minimize American casualties, mostly through air power, that also has the effect of maximizing civilian casualties. Smart bombs are only as smart of the people who set their targets. And if those people are indifferent to civilians then the bomb is neither smart nor dumb, but just as indifferent as they are. "

From Mykeru via Riverbend.

I am compelled to post this as I go up to bed and squeeze my baby's wonderful fat legs.

Mom look Mommy look MOM LOOK

I could, if I were so inclined (and sometimes I am) to mark Aidan's life by the stages that I can't wait for him to grow out of. It might go like this:
-spitting up
-obsessed with crawling up stairs
-the diaper change struggle
-the taking a bath struggle
-the nail cutting struggle
-"why" as in "Why do people live in houses?" or "Why is our car red?"
-shovelling so much food into his mouth at one time that he can't possibly chew it
-bedwetting

and the latest:

"Look Mom, look, mommy look Mom look."

As in I'm washing the dishes that I've needed to wash all day and can only do now because Will has gone down for a nap. The water is running and I have soapy gloves on and Aidan is calling from the top of the stairs:

"Look Mom, look, mommy look Mom look."

"What is it?"

He is telling me something from the top of the stairs but I can't hear him. The water is running.

"What? I can't hear you."

"Look Mom, look, mommy look Mom look."

I finally turn the water off and go to the bottom of the stairs to see what it is.

"Look Mom, super chicken is better now. He's not sick anymore."

And before the dishes are done there will be five more, "Look Mom, look, mommy look Mom look."