A Troubled Student

There was once an engineering student at a very challenging university. Though his classes were difficult, this young man excelled under the pressures and to the amazement of his classmates achieved mostly A's and B's during his first three semesters. His teachers loved him, his classmates looked to him for leadership and advice, and his parents and family were more proud of him than they had though possible.

Then, during his fourth semester, this student decided to take a 400 level course. He needed to fill an elective slot, and he needed to take the course sooner or later, so he decided to take it now and get it out of the way. The rest of his schedule was relatively light as engineering schedules go, so he knew he could commit all the time he needed to this one course, and it would take some pressure off of him in the coming years.

However, at midterms, it looked like the decision had been a bad one. He was failing the class; his one-great GPA was dropping to unprecedented levels. At home, his parents urged him to drop the course, claiming his studies were suffering as he focused on just one class he couldn't pass; they said they were disappointed that their son would waste his time and their precious money on this course. They claimed his standing with the teachers and students of the university would suffer if he didn't drop the class. His siblings urged him to drop it, saying they didn't want their brother to suffer and be miserable any longer.

But the student refused to give up. He spent more time on the class; he spent more money to hire a tutor, who outlined a new study plan; he asked for help from his friends in the course. Though to those on the outside it looked hopeless, and even appeared it was making him weaker in his other classes, the student knew he could pass. His friends and tutor believed in him and helped him along.

Finally the day came. He proudly walked into his house with his final exam in hand; he had aced it. The time and effort had paid off, and now the class was done and he wouldn't have to worry about it later when his other classes got tougher. He had passed the trying class and kept up with the rest of his work, maintaining his high GPA and his respect at the college.

Now, I'm sure we can all associate with that student, especially us engineers. But this isn't quite a true story. As we cheer the student, let's examine the people behind this story. I'm going to warn you, some of you who drew inspiration from this story, cheered the student, and raged against the parents will be quite angry to find you've been tricked.

The class I'm referring to is the War in Iraq.
The student: the American Military.
The negative, money-grubbing parents: The American Congress.
The sideline-heckling siblings: The American anti-war public.
The new tutor: General David Patreaus.
The helping friends: The Iraqi Army and Police.
The new study plan: The Surge.
The college: The world.

Think it over. I'm not sorry if I tricked you.

God bless America.