Sideshow to a Sideshow

I finally saw Lawrence of Arabia. I've read most of the book. The movie is better, though both are long and had trouble holding my attention. The movie romanticizes a romanticization, even as it acknowledges that it is doing so. Meta-metatheater or something. I will finish his book though. Really. I felt better about it when a retired Special Forces Warrant Officer said it was one of the hardest things he ever read just because it was so slow. And he teaches counterinsurgency theory now after having practiced it for over thirty years.
This may sound funny, but Omar Sherif was a more convincing as a Saudi sheikh in Hidalgo.

Anyway, A friend of mine and his fiance are now in Africa doing development work. I may make fun of them on occassion for their rosy outlooks, but I am very proud to know them. They've dedicated much time and effort to putting this project together and trying to make a difference. I also have three friends who I haven't been as good about staying in touch with who have worked for the same doctor in another African nation before heading on to medical school or public health programs, after which they will no doubt continue their work.
It is a great statement of President Kennedy's vision that he is both the patron of the Special Operations (he gave the Green Beret to the Special Forces) and the man who launched the Peace Corps. Ultimately I see them as two sides of the same coin--in open sources you can read about our troops training the forces of the countries these folks are working in--but it is always better if people's interactions are with Americans that don't where the uniform.
I chose the warrior's path. It is what works for me. But people like my friends mentioned above have more power to reduce our potential target set than people on my side ever will.