I'm trying not to let the terrorists win.

But I'm beginning to wonder if that means I'm ignoring the war.

I walk to work and get my joe at a downtown Starbucks, listen to people talk about the weekend, real estate, movies. I enjoy the breezy morning drizzle along King Street. It's another beautiful day in paradise.

But in Iraq, children are being blown to bits. Along with 2,065 enlisted Americans and counting.

Look around. Do we look like a country at war?

Of course you see it in Mililani, in parts of Kane'ohe. Families there are dealing with it, gearing up for another deployment, waiting for others to come home.

But it feels like the sacrifice of these few is made so the rest of us can be oblivious to the fact.

So that guy driving a pick-up on Nimitz with a "My Truck ♥s Iraqi Oil" bumper sticker can keep on truckin'.

But never mind the greed. Even things worth saving, like playing outside, barbecues, time with friends and family, earning a paycheck — life as most of us know it — exist against the backdrop of a mind-numbing daily tally of dead from car bombs and IEDs.

A tally I can only shake my head at. And I don't think slapping a yellow ribbon on my car is going to help how awful I feel about that.

"I know this is a trying time for our military spouses," the president said when American dead in Iraq hit 2,000.

True. But it isn't for the rest of us. It isn't for me.

Sometimes my conscience jolts me. I feel like I should DO something. Like initiate impeachment procedures.

But I just keep going to my job and enjoying my weekends and my friends. Keepin' that economy hummin'.

We gotta keep on or the terrorists win, right?

The thing is, I think most of us care about "over there," but it's overwhelming, and that's paralyzing.

I love stories about those who get involved, like the kids at Kailua Intermediate who are collecting toys for Iraqi children. But I'm very quickly discouraged, thinking about the smallness of such a gesture in the face of a military-industrial goliath run amok. I take refuge in "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central, and relish mocking the politicians and businessmen who got us into this mess.

Which isn't productive.

At least those students are doing something to show that they care about "over there."

Reach Christine Strobel at cstrobel@honoluluadvertiser.com.