I Hammer in the Morning, I Hammer in the Evening, All Over this Land

So in addition to everything else, I'm remodeling our bathroom. It's taken longer than I anticipated because what was ostensibly my spring break was filled with other things that had to be done. Dentist appointments, Ministry and Counsel meetings, meetings with students, et al. What it meant was I did not have a whole open day to devote to the project until this past Monday, the last day of my break. Also, I under-budgeted the time I figured I would need to add to the project itself in anticipation of unforeseen problems. Things like this always take longer than expected, so I expect them to take longer- but then the time I expect them to take is extended and so they are done on time. It's a helpful self-deception, deception used very specially. Only this time, I gravely underestimated how horrible things would get.

I planned to replace the lead pipes with copper, put in ABS drainage, tile the tub/shower surround, add an outlet, put in a new sink, new flooring, and paint. Termites, severe water damage, and the unique building methods of previous residents have made for an incredibly slow and difficult task. One portion of the floor, thankfully, a seldom travelled area, was no more than the five layers of previously laid floor. Another section was more mushroom than wood, a spongy loose growth nourished with every flush of the toilet. Whole sections of the floor structure were rotted and eaten away. That kind of mess can come with age and inattention, but it was worse than I expected. I also had to overcome the very strange, sometimes dangerous, Mac Guyveresque building methods of previous residents.

If you'd seen our bathroom before you may remember it was "cute". Underneath that surface though was a mess of plumber's putty, duct tape, electrical dangers, salvaged wood scraps, and caulk. Lots and lots of caulk.

I am not a builder, though I have worked as a builder in the past. I know enough to do a job, to know what should and shouldn't be done, to know what to do, and enough humility to ask when I don't. When the bathroom is finished, I will have fixed those things that needed fixing and it will look good enough. Of course somebody, someday, may come along and, seeing what I've done, say, "What was this guy thinking?" That comes with the territory and I suppose someone could make the case that what I did was worse than doing nothing at all, though it wouldn't be a strong case- especially if, as I know now, it was only luck that kept us from falling through the floor. I have good intentions and, though not an expert, a sense of how to get it done well.

It has been a slow but steady process, mostly slow, and I'm still right in the middle of it, even as the luxury of a break has ended and I'm back in the rhythm of school and study. Even if it has so far taken longer than I thought it would and only just can see that it is nearing completion. Of course, once you start something like this, you can't just stop. Well you can't stop for just anything. I'm going to write to the internets. I have to do that. But clearly, this is the kind of thing that, though ugly for the interim, must be seen through and completed as best as can be. There is an obligation to finish what has been started.

Isn't that just like what we are dealing with in Iraq? Isn't it important we remember that as we pass these, for good or ill, landmark commemorations of time and mortality, Five Years... Four Thousand... Isn't it necessary to be reminded that we have an obligation to finish what we started and that, mistakes and all, you can't leave something like this undone?

Seriously? You think it is? Good lord, what's wrong with you? You think the people of Iraq are a construction project? Are you even human? Do you have any capacity for emotion, thought, or empathy? You can't see that is the height of imperialism and domination?

To address a point made these days, if you think we have a moral obligation to continue occupying Iraq for the sake of their liberation, progress, or "own good," you lack the imagination or understanding necessary to know liberation, progress or goodness as anything more than concepts of oppression. What I mean is, you are so blinded by your own sense of idolatrous goodness that death and destruction -destroying actual people- are freedom, are goodness, are a gift for "them." Of course any sense of "them" does not include actual people and is incidental to your project of destruction.

This is not an "agree to disagree" point. Let alone what we have actually done is demonstrate that our priorities are securing energy resources, if you think liberation is something that comes and is maintained in this fashion, you are the destroyer.

But now that you've confessed that, perhaps we can move forward.