'Sanctuary' (Possibly the best thing you'll ever read)

EjectEjectEject ^ | 5/18/05 | Bill Whittle

[traviskicks]

SANCTUARY (part 1) (If you're new here, welcome. The regulars usually grab some coffee and relax. This will take about an hour, and, as usual, the end point of our journey is not visible from the beginning.)

What’s worse than crawling under your beloved house and seeing the foundations rotten with decades of termite damage?

NOT crawling under your beloved house and seeing the foundations rotten with decades of termite damage.

I’ve been away for a while, doing a little thinking. Usually, my thoughts for these past few years have started at home and then taken me to Iraq, and the war. Lately, though, I have been thinking about Iraq, and my thoughts turn more and more to home.

continued...

[traviskicks]

This may be the best essay I've read - ever. Please take the time to check it out if you haven't. I promise you will thank me later.

See freeper comments on it on a previous thread: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1407257/posts

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Sidebar Moderator, I realize this has been posted before – actually 3 times, here, here and here, but not recently and so, if possible, consider not pulling this thread, because this essay takes about 45 min to an hour to read and thus isn’t like normal news stories. I also think this fits perfectly with today’s news stories about ‘club gitmo’ and all of this ‘outrage’ over these various American ‘atrocities’. As you can see from freeper comments, people really enjoyed this.

[traviskicks]

Ping! I believe you've all read this previously, just a reminder in case there are any friends you forgot to mention this to...

[Viking2002]

Amen, brother - this is one of those threads that needs to periodically stir the pot. Spread The Word.

[WSGilcrest]

for later

[La Enchiladita]

War is hell, and soldiers have to live there. It is an unbearable burden; unbearable in the sense that not a single man and woman who has been fully exposed to war has ever come back home. Someone else comes back home. Sometimes, it is a better person. Sometimes a worse one. But they are different, all changed in the horror and crucible of war.

This is true.

[HairOfTheDog]

I agree... It's an excellent article that should be posted from time to time.

Grab a beverage and a snack and read the whole thing folks!

[TASMANIANRED]

I'll bump and vouch for the quality of the article.

I was so impressed, I read all of them.

Every essay is a winner.

[Wicket]

Thank you for posting this. I had not seen it before, and I thought it was well worth the rather lengthy reading time. I sent the link to my "blue state" brothers.

Blessings.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

self bump

[Issaquahking]

Cracked a beer to read this ...Was so intense that my beer got warm (and not drank) as I took the time read and absorb a great article. Confirms that we're all on the same page, some on a different line , but the same page.

Feel free to ping me to something this good for a read.

[Desert_Girl]

Please let me offer my most humble thank you for posting this. I am rather new to this site, been reading for a couple of weeks now, and tonight is the first time I ventured to this forum. I am so glad I did.

[traviskicks]

Issaquahking, Glad you enjoyed it. I will ping you if I ever come across anything this good again, but I doubt that will ever happen. :)

Desert_Girl, Welcome to FR. Not to lower your expectations, but don't expect to run into essays and articles that good on a regular basis. :)

All the same, FR is a great resource, if you're interested in certain topics there is probably someone who has a 'ping list' where they let you know when a good article is posted. You'll see examples of ping lists throughout these threads.

BTW, since you both enjoyed this one, 'Empire' is, in my opinion, the next best one. Loved his take on American culture.