The other day my 9-year-old son asked why we were at war. My husband looked at our son then at me. We were both in the Army during the Gulf War and we would both be honored to serve and defend our country again today if called upon. I knew that my husband would give him a good explanation.
He told our son to stand at our front living room window then said, What do you see?" "Oh, trees - cars - our neighbor's houses." Pretend that our house and yard is the United States of America and you're President Bush." "OK." "Now pretend that every house and yard on the block is a different country." "OK." "Now, see that man coming out of his house with his wife, grasping her by the hair & hitting her. She's bleeding and crying but he keeps hitting her in the face, throws her on the ground and kicks her to death. Their children watch but are afraid to stop him - they're crying but do nothing because they're afraid of their father. So what do you do?
" Call the police?" "OK. Pretend the police are the United Nations. They take your call, listen to what you say you saw but refuse to help. Now what do you do?" "But the police are supposed to help!" "But they don't want to. They say it's not their place or our place to get involved, and to stay out of it." "Even though he's killed her?" "Yes, the police believe we should stay out of it.
But wait, pretend the neighbor is Saddam, and he turns around and does the same thing to his children." "Kills them?" "Yes. So now what do you do?" "I guess go and ask another neighbor to help me stop him." "What if our next door neighbor sees what is happening and he refuses to get involved as well. What do you do when Saddam our neighbor walks across the street to the old lady's house, breaks down her door, drags her out, steals all her stuff, sets her house on fire then kills her. Then he sees you standing in the window and laughs."
Our son whispers, "I close the blinds." My husband asks, "Why?" "Because Daddy, if the police won't help, and our neighbors won't help me stop him, I can't do it by myself. So I'll just close the blinds so I can't see what he's doing. I'll pretend it's not happening." I start to cry and my husband looks at our 9 year old and says, "Son, open the blinds, that man is at our front door. What will you do?" Our son balls up his tiny fists & without hesitation says: "I'll defend my family, Dad, I won't let him hurt my mom or my sister. I'll fight him!" "It's too late to fight him, he's too strong and he's already at our front door. You should've stopped him before he killed his wife and children. You have to do what's right even if you have to do it alone, before - it's too late."
THAT scenario is WHY we're at war with Iraq. When good men stand by and let evil happen again and again.....it is the greatest evil of all. Our President is doing what must be done, and what should've already been done. As a free nation we need to understand that this war is a war for humanity and that this evil regime must be removed from power so we can continue to live in a free world and not be afraid to look out our windows. These evils must cease so the 9 year olds of the world can grow up in a world of peace, and not feel they must "close" the blinds on atrocities against their fellow human beings. Never be afraid to do what's right even if you must do it alone!
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