Around and around

By now, a year after Kabul, we come across news about the Taliban and Afghan women left behind.

Adventurous folks would dine at one of the ethnic restaurants in multi-ethnic neighbourhood, many of which gentrified. Like the Cuban before them, the Vietnamese and Korean. Out of curiosity or nostalgia.

It’s almost as if you could learn about American history and its wars via cuisine that came from somewhere else.

Italian, Polish, German and lately, South and South Eastern regions (hint: American Naval power).

Marconi, millimetre waves (makes possible quick communication across the air e.g. “abort, abort”).

By now, some little girls from Kabul, if fortunate enough to be back to school, would feel at a total loss: why would her classmates insist on wearing jeans – pre-washed and pre-ripped? How come people in the neighborhood keep telling “white lies” (while their body-language betray them).

Why people are so efficient at firing and not hiring. Or devoid of EQ while achieving high-academic standing (IQ), like Kissinger – who celebrated when the last US servicemen made it out – like Nixon press secretary Ron (that statement is no longer “operational”).

By now, that Afghan girl would be baffled by Costco shoppers (while she, a K-mart one): bigger carts, bigger cars, bigger garages (that hardly store cars ). By now, that Afghan girl – soon to be American – is feeling bad inside, seeing homeless folks here in American cities – who eat out of garbage dumpsters, near a McDonald and other “fast-food” joints.

Meanwhile, the party that got involved in far-away and forever war, can hardly recognise its own principles and players e.g. Liz Cheney – as Republican as it gets – can no longer recognise her own party, nor is she recognised by it. Hijacked. New norm. New low. De-classified materials and morals.

By now, that little Afghan girl would shop in her designated ethnic stores, with some re-print literatures in-language. She would never see the light of those classified documents until she is with kids and grand-children, who in turn, wear cut-off jeans, pre-washed jeans, and pre-ripped jeans.

By then, she would look back to that arduous journey as one of 76000 have made from Kabul to Kansas.

And maybe, just maybe, she would rationalize – proficiently (telling white lies) to herself, that “it’s a wonderful world” just as Louis Armstrong had put it. She will be by then, our cosmopolitan reader, savoir vivre and savoir dire. Devoid of emotion and loyalty. “I swear allegiance to the flag…one Nation….indivisible”. I hope she lives right at the border, the purple DMZ line, if she ever seeks an abortion or wants to live free from the Taliban, from Torah to Talmud or shades of Theocracy. Enough “anointed” and annoying in one’s lifetime.

Meanwhile, she could never afford those Afghan grills in Washington D.C., just like counterparts in the Cuban-American, Vietnamese-American, Italian-American communities before her. Frederick Douglas once said:”if a nation is comprised of people of different strides…., and not considered equal for the pursuit of happiness….then it should be dissolved”. I sure hope she keeps at it i.e. following the trail that leads to the Truth, which alone, can set her free.

From my heart as fellow sojourner and truth seeker, I congratulate her on her first year in America, land of the free.