Afghanistan is out of the headlines but we have continued to signal the existence of this unnecessary war every day since Obama announced his attention to escalate and thus make the Afghan War Obama's War. Given the projections of how long it will take to satisfy whatever vague and ill-defined criteria of "success" needed to conclude our occupation, we would have to keep finding new YouTube clips for years. I'm not sure even YouTube has enough appropriate clips for that.
The real truth is The Reveres are having a hard time -- a very, very hard time -- letting go of the topic of the War in Afghanistan. We continue posting daily to remind everyone it exists, headlines or no headlines, and we plan to keep at it at least through the end of the year and periodically thereafter. Maybe our tone during Christmas week is mellower and more hopeful, but the anger is still there and may well return. Like many people we whipsaw between the Audacity of Hope (although we are reduced to hoping for audacity) and the Appropriateness of Anger. Our only other choices are resigned cynicism, a temptation we refuse to give in to; or to weep. Neither will help. The former is our Great Enemy and the latter just takes us out of action.
So for now, we will keep trying to support the idea of Hope. Hope for a more peaceful world. We can get there. I know someday we will get there. But there remain significant obstacles and attitudes to overcome: