Not Ready To Make Nice

Dixie Chicks
Originally uploaded by mbigelow2.

"I'm not ready to make nice
I'm not ready to back down
I'm still mad as hell and
I don't have time to go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
'Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is you think I should"

The war in Lebanon continues and continues. It is reaching the point in media coverage where the phrases 'another' and 'yet again' start appearing in coverages of casualties. No one seems to know how to solve this. And once again we see - tragically so - how the so-called international community is powerless without the consent of one single country.

The war came close today during my lunch. I met a friend of mine whose parents hear the warning sirens every day. She said that she is trying to block the issue every now and then but without success. She calls her parents and they start calming her down.
I won't even pretend that I know how it feels when your family is being bombed. Or how it feels when people ask you to forget it for a moment. Or how it feels when your neighbours stop talking to you when they feel that you represent the wrong side. The Beirut Letters shows a glimpse of how scared people react.

The quote in the beginning is not from a news conference today but from the song Not Ready To Make Nice that has been in my head for the last days. The Bush-critical country band Dixie Chicks kicks ass. They are dozen times more convincing than most of the "angry women" - like the Canadian girl singing about anger and irony (without actually understanding the meaning of the word). Dixie Chicks manage to break conventional views on what is country.

The current political situation makes one wonder whether these Texan girls are right. That there are things that time does not heal. On both sides of the conflict the seeds of hatred have been successfully planted for decades to come.