Christmas is a comin'

By Terry Franklin Phillips Sr.

It is definitely winter here in central Indiana. It seems the past few Decembers we have had snow storms, but the current cold (9 degrees above zero this morning) and the snow-covered ground more days than not seems unusual after the relatively mild winters we have been experiencing. But, all this whiteness makes for Christmas card snowscapes outside our windows.

It is beautiful. Take Sunday, for example. We drove north to the church we attend through fields of green. The only snow to be seen was piled up from the 6-inch snow we receive several days ago. The rest had melted in 40-degree temperatures. By the time we returned home Sunday afternoon, snow covered the ground everywhere. The snow had begun falling while we traveled north, making the trip delightful, indeed.

Contrast the typical Amercan Christmas season we are enjoying with the the war in Iraq and recent revelations at home. There is a world of difference and maybe the world hasn't shrunk as much as we thought it had in our Internet age.

President George W. Bush was on TV last night. He spoke from the Oval Office and it seemed he was speaking from his heart. He is undoubtedly (as far as I could tell) sincere in his belief we are doing the right thing in Iraq and in fighting terrorism at home. And that is scary.

It is scary because Mr. Bush's view is so different from my own and, apparently, from the view of many of my friends.

I found myself asking my wife, "What IS the color of the sky in his world?"

How can one believe that invading another country is the American way? How do wiretaps initiated by the President, apart from any court action, become a part of our landscape?

It is as foreign to traditional America as the hot dry sand in Iraq is foreign to our picture postcard Christmas in Indiana with snow and cold temperatures.