A House Afire - A Metaphor for the War in Iraq

What a pickle I have found myself in.  Here I am, standing inside my friend’s house and it is burning down around me.  I stand watching in awe from one of the inner bathrooms.  The heat is incredibly scorching.  I have been using the water from the sink in an attempt to douse the flames, but there just does not seem to be enough water -- the fire is just too big. 

There are others in the room with me; the children that live here I think.  They look so helpless.  They cling to me and cannot seem to stop screaming for help.  They argue among themselves and I often have to yell at them to stop fighting.  They clumsily try to help me and I let them when I can, but sometimes I find it easier to do it myself.   I wish they were adults; they would be so much more help.

I hear people outside.  They are all yelling for me to get out of the house.  I would, except the fire seems to have me blocked in.  If I run through the flames now, I might live, but I would surely be horribly disfigured.  What about the others with me?  Could I leave them here to fend for themselves?   

I hear the people poke fun at me for getting myself stuck.  Do they think I like the position that I have gotten myself into?   How was it that I got to this point?  I am not sure anymore.  Was it because I heard someone call for help?   Was it because I felt a responsibility to try and put out the fire?  Was it ego? Did I think that I could become a hero by extinguishing the fire by myself? Does it matter now?

So what can I do?   I heard someone call the fire department, but they either did not care or were busy helping someone else. I hear lots of people arguing about how to help us, but nobody seems to be able to figure out what to do.  The flames are too high for anybody to run in and save us.  The spectators try to be helpful by yelling suggestions to me, but this advice requires materials or abilities that I do not have.  I do not think it will be long before they give up.   I fear that I am on my own. 

I still think I have a chance if I can somehow find a way to make a clearing through the flames to the door.  Water didn’t work, there was not enough of it.  Maybe I need a new plan.  Can I use this rug to smother the flame instead?  

I think that I still can make it through this.  I have been in tough situations like this before.  This one does somehow seem to be harder than those previous hardships.  All I know is that I have to do something.  The alternatives are too horrible to think about.