We'll see...

So I just wrapped up watching a very interesting movie. It's called "Charlie Wilson's War." It's a story about, go figure, Charles Wilson, a Texas congressman who helped spearhead the "largest CIA covert operation" against the Soviets in the eighties. It was a very good movie...I think I'd give it 22 Spartans on my Spartan Scale.

After a trip to Pakistan and seeing the suffering that is happening there, "Good-time Charlie" decides that he simply MUST get involved. Wilson, though many different means, finds a way to raise funds to get "modern" weaponry into the hands of those who need it. This proves to be the turning point and leads to the crumbling of the communist occupiers.

Inadvertently, this also leads to supplying weapons to, what would later become, Al Queda. We all know what happens with them.

It was a very interesting, thought-provoking movie, and it's all based upon true events. Kinda scary when you think about it.

At one point, Gust Avrokotos (aptly played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman...seriously should've won an Oscar for his performance) tells a story to Charlie. It goes a little something like this:

There's a little boy and on his 14th birthday he gets a horse... and everybody in the village says, "how wonderful. the boy got a horse" And the Zen master says, "we'll see." Two years later The boy falls off the horse, breaks his leg, and everyone in the village says, "how terrible." And the Zen master says, "We'll see." Then, a war breaks out and all the young men have to go off and fight... except the boy can't cause his legs all messed up. and everybody in the village says, "How wonderful."

Of all the things in this movie, this is what sticks out to me. No, I'm not suddenly all into the "Zen" thing, but the "Zen master" in the story makes a good point. We don't always see the big picture. Everyday circumstances play a part in more than just the everyday. Sure, you may get what you want now, but at what cost in the end? We just don't know.

That may sound depressing when thinking about something "good" that you experience, that it may have a "bad something" to follow...and possibly even be caused by it. It's comforting, though, to consider how the bad things can work for good, too.

Ultimately, the movie concludes with victory over the Soviets, but things get held up when funding is cut for building schools. They mention that (and I don't remember the exact numbers)about 50% of the population is under the age of fourteen. By not following through and helping rebuild, we may have seriously dropped the ball.

As Charles Wilson put it:

"These things happened. They were glorious and they changed the world...and then we f---ed up the end game."

Sobering thoughts. A lesson in finishing what you've started, but we'll see.

Much luv,
Rob
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Song of the Day: "Let's Dance" by David Bowie