During this last week as Obama unveiled a new plan for Afghanistan, I had the realization that my entire adolescence was and it looks very likely that my entire young adulthood will be during a state of war. Sometimes Iraq and Afghanistan seem so very far away and removed, and I don't think constantly about the wars. Yet, how has it affected my psychology and especially my political psychology? More importantly, how is it affecting the younger generation who have no memories of an America not at war? What does that do to a child for whom distant war and conflict has become normalized? How will that affect our future, when these children begin leading our country?

It's strange, because this war is such a distant, simmering thing. We all understand the possibility of terrorist attacks after 9/11 and have some vague notion that our actions in the Middle East could be an impetus for further attacks, but overall I feel the average American feels safely removed from the conflict... until a friend of a friend or, worse yet, a loved one comes home in a body bag. It's this constant shadow that looms on and keeps taking lives, but meanwhile we keep living a fairly normal existence.

Don't get me wrong, I understand more than most what it's like for Americans in other countries, from Europe to Asia to the Middle East. I suppose when you're overseas, especially in Europe and the Middle East, you live with a greater awareness of the conflict, but I would contend that unless you are actually physically in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Pakistan or know somebody there, it's still your government's war, not your own. We, as a people, have not embraced this war (and I would contend neither has their been widespread rejection), and yet it continues.

I cannot say I have any major point to make here. I merely wished to reflect on the sobering reality of this chronic conflict. In a few months, 30,000 young men and women will be deployed into a living hell. Those who live will wear the scars of the conflict in their eyes for years after other scars heal (if they do). Over Thanksgiving break, I flew through an airport where probably 1/3 of the passengers were men and women returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. The heaviness in that airport was more tangible than I'd ever felt, and as Obama announced the new surge, I thought of them, and I prayed for them. I also prayed for the people of Aghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan. Their scars will be visible every time they look out their windows.

I do not say any of this to say that this new surge is right or wrong. I'm a near pacifist, but I also realize that our country is already there, and therefore it's hard to justify simply walking away without some efforts of protecting the people. It's a terrible mess we're in, and I have no answers. I simply wish that killing people was a viable option for either side. So long as it is, my prayers will continue to remain with all people on all sides of the equation whose lives will be devastated by this mess.