This week marks the tenth anniversary of the United States' invasion of Iraq. I was a junior in college, simply trying to make sense of what was about to ensue. None of us knew what this would mean for our nation, for Iraq, for terrorism, or for the world. As we consider our personal journeys and stories along the way, it is important to remember that much of our own story is deeply impacted by the stories of others - good and bad - the stories of the world that somehow intersect into our own. I couldn't have known then that both my brother and sister-in-law would be sent to war, and would never be the same, as a result.
The following excerpt is my journal entry from March 18, 2003 - just a day before our nation initiated war in Baghdad.
In many ways, life is completely different than it was ten years ago. But in some ways, it's still the same. How have you seen the world change in the past decade?