JONIZZLE

Like most things an upper-middle class kid like me would complain about, someone else has it much worse. "MAN, I've been in Taiwan for so long, I cannot WAIT to go back home to the US!"

On the plane back from Chicago to Springfield, a friend, or maybe just a guy I knew in high school, was sitting across from me on the plane. I had seen him in the airport before, but I didn't really think it was him at first. He looked different. He looked older. I guess a year in Iraq would do that to you though.

Kuntzi was finally coming home after flying around the Western hemisphere for two and a half days. I thought my 11-hour flight from Taipei to LA was bad. Try Bagdahd to Bahrain to Turkey to Frankfurt to Philly to Norfolk to Chicago to Springfield, along with some stops I dont remember the names of. And yea, going home after a year in a desert fighting a war.

Now, back in high school, people say Kuntzi wasnt the smartest guy. In fact he was voted Most Spaciest. But he went off and joined the Marines while I debated what major to choose. And while I go to class, or skip class and play video games, he really does risk his life for you and for me. He told me about three other friends we went to high school with. One of them was one of my best friends in 6th grade. I borrowed many of his MAD comic books to read and we were desk neighbors. He's on his second tour of duty now. Another is stationed in some place, and the last one is a medic in the airborne division.

This war in Iraq, I still think it's more not right than it is. But we do all have to remember that we all must support the troops 100%. Because they are our friends, our neighbors, people who we played with as kids on the playground, and their lives can be taken in a split-second. Knowing someone in directly in the war makes you look at it differently. Maybe you know someone in the armed forces. Maybe it's a good thing, maybe its a bad. But either way, it forces a closer and more personal perspective.

I wanted to ask him a lot of questions about the war, but I didnt think he'd like to talk about it a lot, . I felt stupid asking asking my single question, the all-encompassing "how was it?", since im sure being in a hot desert with the possiblity of dying not being the same as being in tropical humidty at Ximen Ding, but he said easily, "it was ok, good I guess, since I made it back." Yea, making it back is good.

So Kuntzi, a soldier of the United States Marine Corps, arrived back home in Springfield, Illinois, greeted by a small crowd of family and friends, on the Fourth of July. Good for him. A hero's welcome.

I felt humbled after seeing that. I really shouldnt complain anymore. We all shouldnt.

See, you and me
Have a better time than most can dream
Have it better than the best
And so can pull on through
Whatever tears at us
Whatever holds us down
And if nothing can be done
We'll make the Best of What's Around