Genesis.

Everyone has to start somewhere.  Everything has to have its genesis.  Mine was Afghanistan.  Sounds dramatic doesn't it?  It sounds like a film trailer voiceover.  "He was spawned from a cauldron of conflict, birthed in the fires of war" etc. etc.  It wasn't like that.   For those of you who don't know me (nice to meet you by the way), let me explain. - Last year I went to Afghanistan.  Trust me, it's not all it's cracked up to be.  Anyway, whilst I was there I struggled.  I struggled to process some of the things I witnessed and participated in.  Yes, I witnessed things I would rather have not. I probably participated in some I would rather have not.  Yes it has affected me, but not in that post traumatic shock sort of way that most people think everyone who has seen war is afflicted by.  Tainted by association.  No.  Afghanistan made me think.  At least it made me think more.  About more.  It opened my eyes to the mundane nature of most of our life, the irrelevance of most of our worries and the inconsequential nature of the obstacles we face.  It made me think, and in making me think, it forced me to answer some questions I didn't know I had asked and it confronted me with responses that affected my perception of so many things I had previously accepted as immutable truths, fundamental principles.  So, in a very probable contravention of the rules, I started to write.    Nothing secret, nothing that would endanger anyone or offer succour to our enemies.

What follows now are those pieces.  Rather like my life, it's all out of order.  In writing this now, I am trying to set the context for what is to follow. What follows is what started it all.  Its Genesis. I wanted to continue with the Biblical naming thing. Not because I'm religious (I'm not).  Not because it's clever (it is).  Not because I cling desperately to anything that offers a sense of purpose or order (I do).  I wanted to continue with the Biblical reference because it's comfortable.  It's familiar, and, like a salmon swimming unwittingly back to death in the place of its birth, I need to complete the circle.  This is my Genesis.  Welcome to my Land of Confusion.