Green means go, folks!

Have you ever stopped to think what the best feeling in the world is?  Well, it is easier to recognize it once its gone.  Aside from love and babies and all that mushy stuff - an honestly, down to earth good feeling.   Well, what I have come to miss is walking down the street.  A simple walk down the street, saying a simple hello to your neighbors and smelling the flowers.  What would you do if someone locked up your front door and said you can't come out.  You had to go straight from your front door, into a car and hide yourself from the world.  You are a mere stranger to the world outside, and they to you.  How much would you really understand about your community without being able to partake?  Here, we are not able to walk outside, talk outside, sometimes I feel like my view outside is even shaded and a bit jaded. 

For a moment today that all changed.  A simple walk down the street can change everything.  

Security here goes in phases and we are on a color scheme (to simplify it for us non-intelligence folks) and generally we are ranked a little higher, meaning we need to be a little more cautious.  We need to have armed escorts, extra security guards, ride in armored vehicles, etc.  However, for whatever reason today the security is a little more lax (green) and I was able to walk down the street.  Granted it wasn't more than 2 blocks (and an armed escort did follow me), but it was as far out of my bubble as I had been since stepping onto Afghan soil.

I am a strong believer in understanding the area in which one is living and working, but the security here is not conducive to allowing one to go out freely into the community.  Though there are challenges, today I took a step.