VICKSBURG - Fast-forward and there's only one of two ways this whole war thing works out: Either we wipe each other out or we learn to get along despite deeply entrenched differences.
The experience of the United States says the latter is possible. Globally, however, the jury is still out.
One of the problems with turning on a TV to catch a snippet of news these days is that's what we get: a snippet. We learn today's tally of how many rockets were fired at whom by whom and how many people were killed and injured and then we listen to some banter about whether we should blame George Bush or the Democrats.
The deeper and far more relevant truth is that what led to the rockets being fired didn't start last week, last month or last year. Tensions build for decades, if not centuries.
It's like when a judge sentences a 20-year-old for an armed robbery. The crime, lasting a minute or so, is in the spotlight. But it was a culmination of choices that were made by or for the child - probably starting when he was a toddler - that really led to the day in court.
Myriad interlocking events have combined to result in the struggles taking place in almost all countries of the world today. It's as unrealistic to think the good guys can just kill all the bad guys as it is to think locking up all the drug dealers will do away with the demand for drugs.
In the broadest terms, this millennium is dawning with the Muslim world against the West, including most of Europe.
Our view of ourselves is that we are well-meaning and generous entrepreneurs, who believe strongly in self-rule and self-determination and what we call open societies.
Their view of us, most of which they have learned from our entertainment industry, from corporations seeking to visit progress upon them and through our CIA messing with their internal affairs for 60 years, is that we are reckless and bawdy bullies.
Our view of them - though they live in towns established 5,000 or more years ago - is that they are a little backward - hence we call them "developing nations."
Their view of themselves is that they are patient, kind and generous - to a point - but they have no intention of allowing the less favorable aspects of the West be imported to their lands.
Kuwait, for example, is a thriving nation where education is valued, crime is almost non-existent and natives have the world's highest per-capita income. But you can't buy a beer there. And every movie DVD and every music CD sold at their mall megastores must first pass scrutiny of government censors. That's tyranny in our view - but it works for them.
As hard as it us for us to admit it, they don't want their country to become like Washington, D.C. - for decades the planet's leader in homicides and domestic violence.
We accurately label as extremists or fundamentalists those of the Muslim faith who believe their holy book commands active, violent resistance to heathens (infidels), which, by definition, includes anyone who is not a Muslim.
While there are not many of these people as a proportion of Islam overall, they can roil the whole planet with acts such as the taking of hostages in Iran nearly 30 years ago and the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Some ask why the "good Muslims" don't take more aggressive stances against barbarism. It's a good question. It's also where the experience of the United States could come in.
Except to Native Americans, the place we live was a "New World" not too long ago. It was settled by Europeans, Asians, free and enslaved Africans and myriad others, including Arabs. Through more than 200 years, there has been a lot of jockeying for position. Every group - some more than others - has suffered hardship, discrimination and adversity based on nothing more than race, religion or national origin.
Yet there is a general acceptance that we don't have to kill each other. Indeed, in a hospital ER in Mississippi, a Buddhist or a Muslim might work with a Christian to save the life of an atheist. A pee wee soccer team might feature a white star whose grandparents set his black co-star's house on fire. A priest and a rabbi - when not being featured in a TV comic's joke - might conduct a wedding together.
We're an example that diverse people can get along - maybe far from perfectly - but short of pledging to dispatch to eternity everyone who threatens our beliefs.
As the ordnance flies and the diplomats shuttle, remember we're witnessing an evolution more than an event. One way or the other, it will continue.
