The words are pregnant with emotion, whispered over a phone line from halfway across the world. Hollywood movie producers hear a line like that and they’re automatically constructing a movie byline about heroic soldiers, bombed villages, and screaming townspeople.

Christopher Mendivil, of Oceanside, California, hears the words and becomes shaken up.

Our awareness of what is happening in Iraq stretches the limits of our imagination. The obituaries read on the nine o’clock news could very well be our husbands or wives, friends or loved ones, with real faces, real names, real memories; there is, after all, an overwhelming percentage of military families in the Oceanside and Carlsbad communities.

Oh yes, we’re as divided in opinion regarding the war here in North County as we are as a country. Most of us don’t know exactly why we were sent there in the first place and end up arguing from places of confusion instead of knowledge. Whether we’re straight from a military family or straight from a time machine as a surfer hippie—for we have plenty of both extremes here in the county—when confronted with having to define the reasons of our mission in Iraq, we mostly shrug our shoulders.

Regardless of background or belief, as United States residents we are at the mercy of bureaucracy. After all, the news we listen to is affected only by which Big Brother owns the station it is coming from. While unfortunate, it is indeed a fact that unless we are directly involved, we will never completely understand what’s happening in Iraq.

However, living in North County affords us a deeper dimension than the average suburb. It’s our loved ones going overseas.

“Our neighbors, friends, coworkers, people I serve in restaurants—It gets me that all these regular people I interact with are giving their lives and fighting for something they believe in,” states Maria Toney, a server at a local Oceanside restaurant.

We cannot drive down the freeways without seeing bumper stickers or homemade signs of support and affect. Being in an area so close to a major military base, we cannot turn off our awareness. Thus, we must take an extra step.

“We’ve already blown away the Iraqi government,” says Brian Moriarty, a contractor in San Diego. “And we’re there now to put it back together, regardless of whether or not we should have gone there in the first place. Leaving now in the midst of all the change would be a huge mistake.”

Forget the picket signs and coffeehouse debate; no amount of uneducated free speech will change what’s past or make future change come any quicker.

The change, instead, has to happen within ourselves and the way we allow current events to permeate our daily lives. An old adage states that if “we all kept up our front doorsteps, the whole world would be clean”. In North County, we are exposed to and live with men and women in the service, and can do our best to remind them of what ideals they are fighting for.

With something as complex as our situation in Iraq, global political consciousness does not happen overnight. Instead, it comes in the way we go about our daily routine.  For example, we can take the time to ensure that we are respectful of other community members, appreciate loved ones, and read multiple sources for news on Iraq.

We must make the effort to burst through our idyllic Californian bubble and be aware of what is happening around the world. With that awareness, we will be able to form educated opinions and spur each other to greater consciousness.

On a national level, we may have no control over the missiles that come our way, but we can do our best to see them coming. Rather than complain aimlessly about being in Iraq, we must do what we do best: live our lives not only as proud Americans, but proud Americans with a global consciousness.