News of the day

I just received word that a friend is shipping out on Tuesday for Iraq. He was born the day before me and about a mile away. I am godfather to his son. He’s a good man, a good father, and an honorable husband to his wife. And I am struck with the enormity of everything, and the great loss of energy that is continually poured into wars and conflicts; be they just or not, it is still energy spent for naught.

And I worry for him. I worry for his wife and young son. I worry that they will be apart for this time so important in the formation of a child—in the formation of a man who will follow in his father’s steps as a man with integrity—as his father works to construct a sense of security in another world.

Tomorrow at three we will celebrate our friendship and I will wish him well--tell him goodbye, for a little while. I will tell him that he can sleep well knowing that his wife and son will not want in his absence. I will, like so many others, tell him to be safe—he is a smart man and he will be safe, as will those in his command. Perhaps if the world found a few more like him, we would not need wars, nor conflict, nor would a child need to wake up in the morning with his father a world away in a land devoid of peace.

Yesterday at the office we entertained a mayor, a senator’s chief field aid, and many others who sat around our conference table wanting to know about business and what they could do to attract and keep talent in the city and state—they wanted to know how we have found so many people with extreme talent and why people are willing to uproot themselves, settle here, and work for our little company—often for a good bit less than the insane careers they could have elsewhere in business. They wanted to know why people want to make a difference in the world and how that can excite people. And today I learn about a friend that they would want to keep being pulled from his job to point a small group of dedicated men, also pulled from their jobs, their wives, their daughters and sons, and their community.

He will keep them safe in the desert and bring them back to our little town which will line the interstate and hang banners from bridges.

In bocca al lupo—crepi il lupo. E qui, il lupo è guerra.