Another Friday Night

I was in my early twenties when George H. W. Bush launched the first attacks on Iraq, with the stated goal of “liberating” Kuwait. I remember the panic, and the genuine fear that we were on the brink of a third world war, or at the very least another Vietnam-scale disaster.

Those memories feel close. The intensity of that time never really left me.

Which makes it all the more telling that when I woke this morning to news that the United States had begun bombing Iran, my first thoughts were about walking the dog.

Do I think Iran’s regime is oppressive and in need of change? Yes.

Do I think it’s the role of Trump or Netanyahu to engineer that change through airstrikes? No.

We’ve seen how that story unfolds. The Middle East is still living with the consequences of earlier interventions. Decisions made quickly, from a distance, for political expediency, and with promises of clean outcomes.

But perhaps what unsettles me most isn’t the action itself. It’s the normalization of it.

A president bypasses Congress and escalates militarily, and it barely disrupts the rhythm of the day. Just another headline. Just another Friday.

It’s hard to sustain outrage when everything demands outrage. Eventually, it stops feeling like alarm and starts feeling like exhaustion.