Date: 2006-04-10
To: Hopping on a plane
Miles today: 0.0

I will be leaving Tikrit tomorrow. The russian disco plane has been repaired and is rumored to be back in action. We'll see tomorrow. This will be my last entry from Tikrit. The picture was taken in Australia. I like the kangaroo, not the injured animal part. It reminds me of me. Hopping from place to place. I'm getting ready to hop again. They should call me "Roo" instead of Mr Bill. Maybe Billy-Roo. Uh-huh. I'm sure everybody could say that with a straight face. I just turned in my two-way radio, protective mask, chemical suit,ballistic helmet and body armor. That's 70 pounds of stuff I won't be needing. I've given away 104 books that I read while I was here as well as 6 books on hiking and the AT. I've given both pair of work boots and most of my work clothing to the Turks. I threw away a few things that were just not worth taking home. I won't be taking much of the stuff I came with. I'd like be able to say that I've learned a lot here. I guess I have. Mostly, I learned how to operate as a mindless zombie for 14 months, but I've realized a lot of things about myself. I've learned some basic things about life too. #1 Dislike of tv has been one of the most significant mental shifts in my life. I hate the news. Really. It is designed to frustrate us and piss us off. The reporter doesn't report. He or she decides how best to elicit an emotional response from the audience (usually anger), and then pursues it. Reality has nothing to do with 'the NEWS'. As far as the rest of television, try watching the academy awards after 13 months in a war zone. You'll sell that TV and buy a dog. I don't watch much daily tv anymore either. What I do watch is dvd's of comedy or specific things I like. It is much nicer having my own opinions and thoughts instead of the mental swill we get force fed by the media every day. #2 Death is part of life. We need to do our living every day. We can't spend our time 'existing' and hoping for something better later. Later might not get here for many it doesn't Recent experience has demonstrated this. NOW is the time to make life happen. Got something you've been dreaming about doing. Start doing it. It doesn't need to be a through hike. Start small. Just do something in the direction that you want to go in. Small acts add up to create real changes in your life. #3 Life sucks sometimes. That's just life. Don't take it personally. Everybody deals with it from time to time. Besides, a perfect life would be very,very boring. If you fart,stumble and fall once in a while, it means you're going SOMEWHERE. It amazes me how much of our lives we waste doing the same thing every day and hoping things will get better. Jobs,bills,taxes,family, public opinion - these things affect what we do. What we do shapes who we are. We often don't get much of an input after our lives are in motion. We just keep on plugging away at things hoping everything will magically turn into happiness.   People ask me when I'm going to stop "running away" from my life and settle down. The truth is that when you 'settle' your life stops, and a slow death begins that will last the rest of your life. Many of these people would rather see somebody else stop moving forward, ratherthan catch up or just go their own way.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not against settling down and having a good career or raising a family. I'm just against living in a private prison that is run by a job schedule,a mortgage, or somebody elses expectations at the expense of losing your personal dreams. Some of us are still searching because we haven't settled for somebody elses dreams. The truth is, the hardest part of getting somewhere in life,is knowing where you want to go. Most of us really don't know where that is. Some of us just love searching for new things. I guess that's me. That's why I was here. That's why I'm going to walk the trail. Babbling ......Getting pretty deep around here,huh?. I've been thinking too much. Well, I didn't mean to lecture. It just felt like something I needed to put into words. Life is a book. We go from one chapter to the next. I just needed to put in the last few paragraphs of this chapter.                                        I'll be home in a few days.                                                   Bill