(To be opened when reaching age 18)
My precious darlings:
By the time you read this, your great-uncle may be but a fading memory, a pleasant interlude in your childhood. Hopefully, I’ll be a reassuring presence, someone you look back on with a chuckle and a smile. This is not the same Uncle Nunzi who is writing this letter. This is the side of me adults try not to show when you are growing up — this is an uncle who, like all adults, battled his own insecurities and made mistakes. Maybe I should sing "My Way" at this point. But be certain, I am the same uncle whose love for you never wavered.
What is the reason for this serious uncle to emerge now? It is because, as you are already finding out, the world is a very serious place and only purposeful people can survive in it. Frankly, your father and grandfather are nice people, but they are silly asses who laugh too much. As one reaches my age, there is a tendency to look back and try to teach future generations how to avoid our mistakes. It is one thing to make your own mistakes (and you will), but it would break my heart if you repeated the misjudgments of those who have gone before you.
Mine has been a political life without having a life spent in politics. I recognized at an early age, especially in Italy, politics mattered a great deal, despite what others might tell you. Without politics there would be no democracy and, while democracy is not perfect, I saw what Italy was like without it. That big-shot Mussolini may have made the trains run on time, but most of us were too poor to ride them.
The biggest, what you call "cop-out," you will hear from the lazy minds is all politicians are crooks. Some are just perverts. (I make a little joke, even serious people sometimes joke.) Be skeptical, but do not become a cynic. We get the politicians and the kind of government we deserve. When we get fed up, we try a new party. That’s what happened in November 2006. Your grandfather acted like the country became a bunch of liberals because the Democrats won. I got news for him. America just wants someone to make the trains run on time — without Mussolini.
Accountability is more than saying, "I am to blame." That is the easy part. Andy Reid said the same thing every Monday. The hard part is believing it. Myself, your grandfather and everyone else who thought it was good idea to invade Iraq should have been forced to say a good act of contrition in the public square, or at least at Girard Park, for that sin. At this point, both of you are free to laugh at our expense, but also shed some tears for those who lost their lives because of our error in judgment. Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld could not have done it without our support. As it turned out, it wasn’t freedom that was on the march, it was our own arrogance.
It is often true the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Anyone who lived through the horrible war in Vietnam should have known that. But our memories were too short and our pride too strong. Your history books will probably list all kinds of reasons for going into Iraq, but mostly it was just plain pride. It not only cost American lives, it killed far too many Iraqis. We bragged about giving them elections, but forgot to mention we couldn’t give them electricity.
Oh yes, we finally woke up. Voted out a lot of Republicans in 2006 and brought in the Democrats, but in some ways it was already too late. Iraq was upside down and all we could think about was how the hell to get out and pretend it never happened.
After we do leave, and I think it will be a lot sooner rather than later, both parties will probably blame each other for losing Iraq — when it was never ours to lose in the first place. You will, no doubt, get a chuckle that your uncle, like John Kerry, was for the war before he was against it.
You will be smarter. You must be.
�
Sincerely,
Your Great-Uncle (who was not so great) Nunzi
