Duck Poop

Yesterday I spent a beautiful afternoon at Alki Beach in West Seattle. I was so mesmerized by the cloudless sky and the beaming sun while walking on the shoreline staring across the Sound to downtown Seattle, that I hadn’t realized all the duck feces that littered the ground below me. I checked both my soles and seemed to be in the clear but scraped them along the curb anyway. That’s the thing about sunny days. Even when surrounded by bliss, the duck poop lurks.

Which brings me to a segment, I’d like to call, “If you don't have something supportive to say, eat your scrambled egg before it goes bad."

To all those “birthers” waving around their transparent zip loc bags holding the remains of an un-hatched chicken fetus still demanding Obama’s birth certificate, I think he’s passed your test. With the outstanding execution of those 24 extremely courageous troops under the orders of our President, the most notorious man has been brought to justice. Every single American that was alive on that fall day remembers where they were on the morning of 9-11. I'm probably one of the least violent people you'll meet, but I have to take the 'Dexter' mentality here. I'm not confident the world will change in any significant way by way of terrorists, but I do know that sometimes the world is a better place without evil. This man was evil and because of him and his buddies, we have a collective image of death forever lodged into our memories and for the unluckiest, fragmented families because he led to their end.

[I was sitting in my room getting dressed. I had late start that day so I was slowly getting ready for school when mom told me to turn on the TV. I cried. Then I went to school where I walked in a fog all day. Life is confusing at 17. Even moreso when you will now have an image of 3,000 people being mass murdered engraved in your brain. Man, the world is more confusing than if he thinks I'm cute and will ask me to prom. I still have the papers from 9/12. One image shows a man jumping to his death, head first. I think he’d be pleased with yesterday’s events and want to shake the hands of our SEAL's and our President.]

“Obama shouldn’t take credit! He didn’t start the war!” Yes, you’re absolutely right. When the war started, Obama wasn’t the President and therefore, did not start the war. Bush did. Bush did not find Osama in his tenure as President. And who could blame him-Osama was holed up in a cave somewhere, right?

Well, I don’t know where the SOB has been for the last 10 years, but yesterday he seemed to be living the life of riches on a beautiful Pakistani day. Then he stepped in some serious duck poop. Game over. [Enter “Super Mario’s Brother’s” music here for affect]

So it is 2011. We are 5 months away from hitting the decade mark of 9-11. And in that almost 10 years, those images still have the capacity to give me a physical reaction. When I’ve visited Ground Zero, once in 2006 and on September 11, 2009, it has been a debilitating experience. My heart has never been so heavy standing on the city grave of thousands of Americans. You’re angry, sad, disgusted; you’re all of it. I know it sounds cliche, but when you're standing there, it's pretty remarkable.

After coming home from my day at Alki, I was reading & growing frustrated of the book because there’s way too many characters and it’s getting to be a bit much, but I must finish it. It’s the third book and I am 300 pages away from Lisbeth Salander freedom. So in my dedication to the book, I put it down and turned on the TV to channel surf instead. I landed on CNN and was just getting up to put in a movie. And there was the scroll of Breaking News.

“Obama will be making a serious announcement about our National Security.”

My first thought was that we were under attack again and quickly scanned the internet. Then John King came on and said, “Osama Bin Laden is dead. The US has his body.” John King, great delivery by the way. You could definitely feel the weight that this moment both brought and lifted. I also snickered at the thought of the very serious Republican-to-be candidate Donald Trump, grabbing a pre-made “Trump ‘12” sticker off his gold plated desk and crumpling it up. Then telling himself, “I did good. I did a really good job trying, I am proud of myself.” Then being equally sad when he later saw the ratings of ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’ for that night. Apparently his viewers were tuned into Fox News where the headline read “Usama Bin Laden dead.”

In my naivete, I was pretty certain people would be proud that we'd brought this mo-fo down. I also thought that credit would be given to our troops and oh right, our President. Boy was I wrong. Yes, the President does not operate within a vacuum alone; he is surrounded by aids and advisors for which we should be lucky that he doesn’t make decisions alone and has full control (see photo below). Well, maybe we would prefer this...seeing the current obsession with Monarchies and the Fairytale land of where real life Dukes & Dutchesses actually roam city streets outside of the pages of a classic novel (that I'm sure no American is reading unless it's a round flat disc that reads 'Disney').

I digress.

He is our COMMANDER IN CHIEF, which means we follow his orders. He is not simply a seat warmer to the desk chair in the Oval Office which people have also degenerated the highest office to the land to be which is disgusting.

[Secretary of State Clinton's face says everything you can't hear in this photo]

The conclusion I have drawn is that no matter what he achieves, even if it is something a Republican claims to have wanted, if Obama gets us there, there will be no satisfaction or credit. There will always be the person who has just quenched their thirst with haterade to say, “but he didn’t do this” or “well, he doesn’t deserve the credit. So-and-So did it.” I think it’s pretty ridiculous but usually it is the unsung heroes who do wondrous things and we recognize that somewhere in a dusty history book years later.

We all need to come off the high seat of either the back of the elephant or donkey we sit upon, and give credit where it is due. Stop acting with the maturity of second grade children on opposing ball teams. "No I grabbed it first! Nah-uh..Sssshe touched it last!" Just stop. Let me make you some eggs.

And if you can't, I know this beautiful park in Alki beach we should go for a walk in...

"Shoes? Nah... you should definitely go barefoot."