Wasted Days and Politics

My favorite modern ska & rock-steady band is the slackers. They have a song called "wasted days". It was obviously written about a past relationship. It begins with the phrase "what have I done wrong that I should be sorry". I often think of this phrase when confronted with the ambiguity of modern political figures. Previously, former presidents Nixon and Clinton come to mind and more recently presidential hopefuls Senators Barack Obama and John McCain. They have come under fire for using the phrase "wasted" in reference to American lives lost the fiasco also known as the Iraq war. It is my honest and humble opinion that their word selection and usage is absolutely correct and therefore nothing to apologize about.

Senator McCain was recently noted as saying he should have used the word sacrificed instead of wasted. This would have been arguably inappropriate because it implies that there was an object serving a greater purpose as a means to an end. We now know that was never the case. The reason wasted is appropriate is that there has been no redeeming value. No purpose other than murder, theft and rape has been served. There can be no end that could justify the means. By definition that is waste. There are thousands of men and women who should still be alive, but are not. For what reason have they died and what rationale is being planted in our minds? What kind of excuse can be made for such a widespread atrocity? Perhaps the very same elements that prohibit these candidates from speaking their mind and force them to apologize are also prolonging and inspiring this conflict. A similar lack of reason, morality and honesty has propelled us into this quagmire and is preventing us from escaping it.