On the day following the three-year anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, a friend (and colleague, although not an overly well-educated one) forwarded an email to a large number of people in the small office where we worked. The email highlighted the massive rising cost of the Iraq war and arrived with the subject "FW: Interesting."
Another colleague, one with staunch republican leanings, replied to all sarcastically, "Damn Warmongering Republicans!"
Seven minutes later, an MBA-accomplished colleague, another republican, although not super-conservative, replied with the succinct, "War means jobs, baby!!!" (Now, I should apologize once again, because originally, I portrayed these comments with only one exclamation point, not three. Three exclamation points only makes things worse; use with caution.)
I know he meant no real harm (it is truly not in his skin to do so) but I felt a snide reply was in order. Within a minute, I replied to all, "Unfortunately, it also means 2300 less jobs for the Americans that have already died in the war. (They didn’t teach you that in business school, it seems.)"
Within moments, as my reply popped into inboxes around the small office, a few cries of "Woah," filled the room. I did what I had to do and I believe I succeeded. The moment you equate war with jobs and business is the moment you temporarily cede your decency, every last shred.
pS, I no longer work at the company where these emails were passed around, so I feel good about publishing these emails. More to come...
Labels: iraq
