Tunnel Vision

Photo & Text Copyright 2008 Seattle Daily Photo. All rights reserved, including reproduction or republishing.

"Where will this come out? Oooo, its horribly oppressive in here. Drive faster!" Do you like going through tunnels, or do you feel trapped? We learned from some kids we watched for a week while their parents were away how their parents distracted them from that panicky feeling they got in tunnels: see if you can hold your breath the whole way through, start to finish--no cheating! We started doing it for fun ourselves, and kept it up when we became parents. It's our whole family's automatic reaction when we enter a tunnel. I can do it all the way through this one which passes under Denny Way. Many people in Seattle feel like they've been trapped on a road they didn't want to go down, holding their breath through a long tunnel, not knowing where the end is or how it will turn out. They are gathering today and this evening for somber observances of the 5th anniversary of of the USA going into Iraq, honoring the sacrifices and loss of US military families and Iraqi families, and looking for the light of peace and a full breath of truth and healing at the end of a long, dark and confusing tunnel.