Protests are a sometimes necessary, but not sufficient condition for a healthy democracy. We must also ask: “How did we get here in the first place? What do we need to do next?”

Maybe this war, in particular, was inevitable given the web of historical foreign policies owned by the United States and its allies. Maybe we had no choice but to see it to its foreseeable conclusion.

Let’s remember conditions in Iraq didn’t deteriorate overnight. Saddam Hussein, the enemy of our country, once was our friend. So, too, Osama bin Laden, Pinochet and Noriega.

Raise an attack dog, forget to feed it, get bit. We’ve been here before.

The American political system’s frighteningly short memory makes the consequences of our actions difficult to consider.

As citizens of a world growing increasingly smaller, it is essential we — each of us — exercise a greater capacity for imagining the potential chaos of future foreign policy decisions. As patriots — and lovers of democracy — survival on this planet will require a great deal more than waving signs and flags.

The same energy we see on street corners should be in standing room only crowds in classrooms, lecture halls and hearing rooms where we can begin to understand how American policies are seen abroad and how we must change in a fast-changing world.

Teague Morris, Litchfield

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