Omens and the Silence Before the Storm

Approximately twenty-four hours now remain until President Bush's ultimatum expires, and I can feel the charge in the air. All around me I have been hearing comments supporting this war to guarantee the safety of my country and its people. Now I all I can do is wait and hope that this war kills fewer innocent lives than I imagine would happen. Knowing the "Coalition of the Willing's" military technology and numbers are far superior to Iraq's, a fast and relatively painless war is not an unreasonable possibility. But then again no one can read the future clearly.

Today I saw a dove mutilated by a fearsome black crow. This coincidence is, even though a coincidence, shocking. Ancient cultures believed certain behaviors of animals, especially just before war, were omens of good and bad things to come. When I think about this, the murder of the dove, which symbolizes peace, by the black crow, which may symbolize aggression, seems very eery.