This question asked of me by one of my work associates has had me thinking. What good has come out of this country? Should we look at this question from a War on Terror point of view or strictly from a non biased neutral standpoint? I think that the answer is simple and many times overlooked. Afghanistan is a country, right? Well, yes and no. The actual country borders were put down on paper by the British some time in the late 1800’s, but does that mean that everyone within the borders looks at Afghanistan as a collective whole? Most likely not. To this day there are tribes of people that live in untouched valleys of Afghanistan. Untouched from corrupt governments, untouched from disgruntled Islamic extremists, and even better, untouched by the evil of materialism that has pierced every other corner of the world.

The best thing that has come out of Afghanistan cannot be described by a soldier brought up in the materialistic land of chaos and corruption, we call America. I do know however that if you asked someone that lived in one of those far away villages what the greatest thing is in their life they would say, peacefulness. A peacefulness that you cannot feel even in the quiet peaks of the Rocky Mountains. It is a peacefulness that has been around for thousands of years. It has out lived empires, wars, corrupt governments, and over-enthusiastic Islamic extremists. It is the peacefulness of a land untainted by civilization, infrastructure, and westernization. The land that these people live in is governed by respect for elders, respect for God, and respect for family.

Sounds pretty good to me, but I have to say the whole “no taxes” part probably is the best thing. But really folks if you can somehow get a grasp on how amazing that concept of peacefulness is you might want to look at purchasing some land over here. I hope that this makes you think about trying to make your life a little bit more peaceful.