Breathing a Sigh of Relief

By Mitch Traphagen

mitch@observernews.net

WASHINGTON - The nation seems to be breathing a collective sigh of relief. It is tentative, of course, but the pressure seems to be lower.

On the day the statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled in Baghdad, I made a drive up the eastern seaboard of the U.S.

At a rest area on I-95 an elderly man walked up to ask where I was from. He just wanted to chat and find out a little about traffic in Jacksonville. In the tens of thousands of miles I have travelled I have never had someone just walk up to me to talk in a rest area. This, however, was not to be the first time in the span of 24 hours.

In South Carolina, Bob took a break from his job at a convenience store to have a smoke and to ask where I was headed. I told him that I was going past Washington. I might as well have told him that I was going to Mars. Either place is a long way from a rural South Carolina convenience store just off the freeway. But that didn't stop us from having a nice talk. We didn't talk about the war, we talked about kids and growing up. We wished each other a good night and he walked back into his convenience store.

In North Carolina I spent a few minutes with a complete stranger talking about the cargo carrier on top of his car. He kept two bags of golf clubs in it.

In Virginia, a security guard at a rest area said hi and asked how I was doing. He sounded like he really wanted to know.

As the military declares the major combat portion of the Iraq war over, the public is apparently responding with relief.

The most recent polls are showing an increase in optimism about the future. People, it seems, are coming out of a long dark winter. Spring, both literally and figuratively appears to have sprung.

Unfortunately, the road ahead is not necessarily smooth. More people are almost certain to die in the sands of Iraq. In the short span of time between writing these words and printing them for you to read, fortunes may change, loved ones may be lost. The world is not yet a completely safe place.

A drive on the Washington Beltway is a reminder of this new world: Highway signs remind motorists of the heightened state of alert and also suggest reporting suspicious activity.

On the other side of the coin, however, is something else that may be seen on the beltway and on highways and roads across America. On overpasses, on marquees, in stores and on billboards everywhere are flags, and messages about supporting our troops. A resurgence of patriotism, of Americanism, also appears to be a marker of our new world.

Some people may have disagreed about military action in Iraq, but few would say that they did not support the troops.

In Sun City Center last week members of the local VFW and American Legion Posts held a support our troops rally with an enthusiastic response from passing motorists.

That idea, supporting the troops, seems to have given the country something to focus on, something to do in a situation that otherwise felt helpless.

The war continues, even as it winds down. There will, almost certainly, be other wars. Bad things will, again almost certainly, happen at some point in the future. Today, however, tomorrow, and next week the sun will shine and people who have never met before and have nothing in common will share a few minutes chatting in rest areas across the country.

For now, anyway, winter seems to be fading into spring.