Why We Are At War

[John Benz]

Written by a mother of 3

The other day, my ten-year-old son wanted to know why we were at war.
My husband looked at our son and then looked at me. My husband and I were in the Army during the Gulf War and we would be honored to serve and defend our Country again today.

I knew that my husband would give him a good explanation.

My husband thought for a few minutes and then told my son to go stand in our front living room window. He told him: "Son, stand there and tell me what you see?"

"I see trees and cars and our neighbor's houses." he replied.

"OK, now I want you to pretend that our house and our yard is the United States of America and you are President Bush."

Our son giggled and said "OK."

"Now son, I want you to look out the window and pretend that every house and yard on this block is a different country" my husband said.

"OK Dad, I'm pretending."

"Now I want you to stand there and look out the window and see that man come out of his house with his wife and he has her by the hair and is hitting her. You see her bleeding and crying. He hits her in the face, he throws her on the ground, and then he starts to kick her to death.

Their children run out and are afraid to stop him, they are crying, they are watching this but do nothing because they are kids and afraid of their father. You see all of this son.... what do you do?"

"Dad?"

"What do you do son?"

"I call the police, Dad."

"OK. Pretend that the police are the United Nations and they take your call, listen to what you know and saw but they refuse to help. What do you do then son?"

"Dad, but the police are supposed to help!" My son is getting upset.

"They don't want to son, because they say that it is not their place or your place to get involved and that you should stay out of it, My husband says."

"But Dad...he killed her!!" my son exclaims.

"I know he did...but the police tell you to stay out of it. Now I want you to look out that window and pretend you see our neighbor who you're pretending is Saddam turn around and do the same thing to his children."

"Daddy...he kills them?"

"Yes son, he does. What do you do?"

"Well, if the police don't want to help, I will go and ask my next door neighbor to help me stop him." our son says.

"Son, our next-door neighbor sees what is happening and refuses to get involved as well. He refuses to open the door and help you stop him," my husband says.

"But Dad, I NEED help!!! I can't stop him by myself!!"

"WHAT DO YOU DO SON?" Our son starts to sob.

"OK, no one wants to help you, the man across the street saw you ask
for help and saw that no one would help you stop him. He stands taller and
puffs out his chest. Guess what he does next son?"

"What Daddy?"

"He walks across the street to the old ladies house and breaks down her door and drags her out, steals all her stuff and sets her house on fire and then...he kills her. He turns around and sees you standing in the window and laughs at you. WHAT DO YOU DO?"

"Daddy..."

"WHAT DO YOU DO?"

Our son is sobbing and he looks down and he whispers, "I close the blinds,
Daddy."

My husband looks at our son with tears in his eyes and asks him..."Why?"

"Because Daddy.....the police are supposed to help...people who needs it....and they won't help....You always say that neighbors are supposed to HELP neighbors, but they won't help either...they won't help me stop him...I'm afraid....I can't do it by myself ...Daddy.....I can't look out my window and just watch him do all these terrible things and...and.....do nothing...so....I'm just going to close the blinds....so I can't see
what he's doing........and I'm going to pretend that it is not happening."

I start to cry.

My husband looks at our nine year old son standing in the window, looking pitiful and ashamed at his answers to my husbands questions and he
tells him...."Son"

"Yes, Daddy."

"Open the blinds because that man.... he's at your front door..."WHAT DO YOU DO?"

My son looks at his father, anger and defiance in his eyes. He balls up his tiny fists and looks his father square in the eyes, without hesitation he says:

"I DEFEND MY FAMILY DAD!! I'M NOT GONNA LET HIM HURT MOMMY OR MY SISTER, DAD!!! I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM, DAD, I'M GONNA FIGHT HIM!!!!!"

I see a tear roll down my husband's cheek and he grabs my son to his chest and hugs him tight, and cries..."It's too late to fight him, he's too strong and he's already at YOUR front door son.....you should have stopped him BEFORE he killed his wife. You have to do what's right, even if you haveto do it alone, before......it's too late." my husband whispers.

THAT story I just gave you is WHY we are at war with Iraq.

When good men stand by and let evil happen is the greatest EVIL of all.

Our President is doing what is right. We, as a free nation, must understand that this war is a war of humanity. WE must remove evil men from power so that we can continue to live in a free world where we are not afraid to look out our window.

So that my nine-year-old son won't grow up in a world where he feels
that if he just "closes" that blinds the atrocities in the world won't affect him.

"YOU MUST NEVER BE AFRAID TO DO WHAT IS RIGHT!

EVEN IF YOU HAVE TO DO IT ALONE!"

[b52]

Great post.

[Dawgpound_Hank]

Yeah its a FANTASTIC morals post, but concerning the Iraq war its misleading as it left out...

"Son, the bad man has many firecrackers, M80's and bottle-rockets that are very dangerous and can kill us and our neighbors."

"OK Daddy lets go get him and take him out and find and destroy all those bad things!"

"Well son, we went there and many good men and women lost their lives. We also spend gazillions of $. Yet we searched and searched and searched, but we couldn't find any firecrackers, M80's or bottle rockets."

"Daddy?"

Obviously Saddam was scum and deserved to die. However, that article left out a very important factor - he didn't tell the boy WHY we went to Iraq - alledged WMD. There are & have been MANY pieces of shit in this world that deserves to die - NO, not die - to be fucking tortured. But at what cost? If we were take the time & use the resources to go take out every scum in this world from Congo, Middle East, Darfur, etc etc, the USA would have went bankrupt decades ago with an unemployment rate of 90% and hungry, homeless people everywhere here due to the trillions of $ it would take to do so. Priorities must have some place in the overall picture in evaluating the scums that pose the largest worldwide threat & to determine the magnitude of that threat. Thats why we don't put daily raping, maiming, dismembering & torturing of women in Congo at the top of the list. Its sad, but hey it reality. We can't be responsible to take action against ALL the evil scum in a world with a population of nearly 7 billion.

Just my take

[b52]

Yeah its a FANTASTIC morals post, but concerning the Iraq war its misleading as it left out...

"Son, the bad man has many firecrackers, M80's and bottle-rockets that are very dangerous and can kill us and our neighbors."

"OK Daddy lets go get him and take him out and find and destroy all those bad things!"

"Well son, we went there and many good men and women lost their lives. We also spend gazillions of $. Yet we searched and searched and searched, but we couldn't find any firecrackers, M80's or bottle rockets."

"Daddy?"

Obviously Saddam was scum and deserved to die. However, that article left out a very important factor - he didn't tell the boy WHY we went to Iraq - alledged WMD. There are & have been MANY pieces of shit in this world that deserves to die - NO, not die - to be fucking tortured. But at what cost? If we were take the time & use the resources to go take out every scum in this world from Congo, Middle East, Darfur, etc etc, the USA would have went bankrupt decades ago with an unemployment rate of 90% and hungry, homeless people everywhere here due to the trillions of $ it would take to do so. Priorities must have some place in the overall picture in evaluating the scums that pose the largest worldwide threat & to determine the magnitude of that threat. Thats why we don't put daily raping, maiming, dismembering & torturing of women in Congo at the top of the list. Its sad, but hey it reality. We can't be responsible to take action against ALL the evil scum in a world with a population of nearly 7 billion.

Just my take

Another great post! I tend to have sympathy for both sides of this argument. We are not the world police, Not every country wants us to run it for them, or set up a US style gov't, but when good people just stand by and do nothing and let these types of people kill rape etc. evil will prevail, but things like this will never cease and there is only so much we can do. Things like this will always happen and will continue to up until the end of the world. It's too bad but the world is not supposed to be peaceful. So due to that I have a conscience i feel someone should not let these assholes get away with this, but also i know it will never end and for every asshole that's taken out 5 more will pop up to replace him. So this is one of those topics that i personally struggle with. War is never an easy topic.