The closest times I ever came to actually contacting Gaddafi in real life
Already talked about this a little, but I wanted to write him a letter to apologize after Reagan bombed him. My Mom didn't want me to, which surprised and disappointed me because she was a radical leftist herself who was always writing Free Leonard Peltier letters to congress so I wasn't expecting this to be a problem.
I ended up just writing cringey poetry about him instead. (Don't get the wrong idea, I did NOT 🙅♀️ have a crush on him)
So I hadn't really thought about him in over 10 years and I was busy with my life and getting ready for my wedding and stuff when all of a sudden 9-11 happened.
A few days later I heard on the news that he had given us condolences and asked the Libyans to donate blood for the victims. I was just as bamboozled to hear this as anyone but for different reasons. And one of my first thoughts was remembering how I had wanted to write a condolence/apology letter to him all those years ago and hadn't gotten it together to do it.
I have to say I felt a little one-upped by his message and even guiltier and even more like I owed him one now. But for some reason I still didn't reach out to him, I guess I felt like too much time had passed and it would be weird.
It doesn't count because I was unaware at the time, but realistically speaking probably the best chance I ever had of seeing him in person or meeting him was when he came to my country to speak at the UN summit. I knew Libya was there, and held the rotating presidency or whatever but somehow didn't realize Gaddafi Himself had come along.
As everyone knows, whether they want to or not, this is when I finally woke up and fell in love with him.
I was all over the internet learning about him and defending him and connecting with likeminded people. I left flirty comments on his supporter pages and even the satire pages. (I was not the only one doing this, in fact I was pretty tame compared to some of the other fans) I kept hoping he would see them or someone would tell him.
Of course I started looking back with regret on all the times I should have reached out to him and didn't. Once again I thought I should write to him, and I sat down and actually wrote a long letter to him this time instead of just thinking about it. But, just as when I was eleven I began to second guess myself. I need to re-do this letter, it's too long and cringe and boring. Besides, he's literally fighting for his life. Maybe he doesn't want to deal with my fan-girling ass right now.
A group was going to DC to protest the war and then to Libya on a fact-finding mission. I had wild dreams of figuring out a way to get a bus ride over there and join them. I had three little kids though, the youngest still nursing, and I really worried how it would affect them if I just jumped up and left them with their dad for a few weeks. (I had never quite felt safe to leave them with him for more than a few hours, and even that only in emergencies)
So the most I ever did was record a video message for Libyan TV when they invited international supporters to send some in. I heard later that it was shown and that Gaddafi saw it, but I was not able to directly confirm this on my own.
