Anti-Climacus

QUOTE: Something to be proud of, from the Weekly Standard:

""I'm going to be proud if they think I am an American soldier," Ahmed says. "I have no fear to go there. I believe we live one life and we die one time. And if I die, I die for a good cause. For my family and for my people."

Ahmed carries a picture of his girlfriend around his neck. He shows it with evident pride and recalls seeing her for the first time at a Starbucks in Beaverton, Oregon. He shares his memories of the giddy days of new love--playing pool and bowling, making eggs at 2:00 a.m., seeing "My Big Fat Greek Wedding."

He and several Iraqi friends gathered regularly at the Beaverton Starbucks to talk about life, politics, and recently of course, this war. Some of them didn't share his enthusiasm for the mission. None of them wants to keep Saddam in power, but several of his friends don't approve of his willingness to go fight with U.S. troops. The normally soft-spoken man becomes very animated. He dismisses their criticisms, calling them "cowards."

"Let me ask you a question--why the American people, why the American solider have to die in our homeland? I say, we have to die there. So I said to them, [he points] you and you and you, you have to volunteer so less American people go. If you are American solider, you go to Basra, why you have to die there?"

So Ahmed moves forward today. He'll be home soon. "