The other day, my nine-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 said, "Son, stand there and tell me what you see?"
"I see trees and cars and our neighbors' 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 pretend you see Saddam come out of his house with his wife, 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, then he starts to kick her to death.
Their children run out and are afraid to stop him, they are screaming and crying, they are watching this but do nothing because they are kids and they are afraid of their father. You see all of this son....what do you do?"
"Dad?"
"What would you do son?"
"I'd 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 starts to whine.
"They don't want to son, because they say that it is not their place or your place to get involved and that we should all 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 own 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, your next door neighbor sees what is happening, but he refuses to get involved as well. He'll not help you," my husband says.
"But Dad, I NEED help! I can't stop him by myself!"
"WHAT DO YOU DO SON?" Our son starts to cry.
"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?"
"Watching you in the window, he walks over to the old lady's house, breaks down her door and drags her out. He sets her house on fire and then he...he kills her. He does this while he laughs at you and her. WHAT DO YOU DO?"
"Daddy..."
"WHAT DO YOU DO?"
Our son is crying and he looks down and he whispers, "I'd 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 them...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 husband's questions and he says..."Son."
"Yes, Daddy."
"Open the blinds, son, because that evil man.... now he's at our front door..."WHAT WILL YOU DO NOW?"
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'LL 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 our son to his chest and hugs him tight, and says... "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, and his children and the old lady across the way. You have to do what's right, even if you have to do it alone, before it's too late," my husband whispers.
THAT scenario I just gave you is WHY we are at war with Iraq and other terrorists. When good men stand by and let evil happen son, THAT 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!" BE PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN! BE PROUD OF OUR TROOPS!
SUPPORT THEM! SUPPORT OUR PRESIDENT IN THE MIDST OF THIS WAR, SO THAT IN THE FUTURE OUR CHILDREN WILL NEVER HAVE TO CLOSE THEIR BLINDS...."
BOGUS AMMO DUMP STORY YESTERDAY TIMED TO DISCREDIT THE MILITARY AND PRESIDENT BUSH...
A bogus ammo dump story headlining the news Monday was strategically timed to shift the vote to Senator John Forbes Kerry as individuals are filling out and mailing in absentee ballots or voting early. Sadly, voters may have been swayed in their presidential choice by untruths trumpeted by John Kerry himself in speeches and interviews this week. (Sound like the Clinton days all over again?) The fact is, the huge ammo dump was emptied and moved BEFORE Coalition troops arrived in Baghdad (just as weapons of mass destruction could have been moved). This was happening as President Bush was making final diplomatic attempts encouraging the international community to join the Coalition to oust the Iraqi dictator and murderous regime.
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This message is NOT from the Bush-Cheney campaign. I trust this message won't get blocked by those who disagree with the First Amendment, which was written specifically to protect free speech in the time of national elections.
PLEASE, GET OUT AND VOTE FOR PRESIDENT BUSH ON TUESDAY. THERE'S MORE AT STAKE THAN WE KNOW. DON'T CLOSE YOUR BLINDS. PASS THIS ON
If this email was not forwarded to you, you may remove yourself from this list by sending an email to noemail@valueyourvote.com
I particularly like calling any news that isn't all flowers and sunshine "BOGUS". Welcome to the reality-based community, asshat:
The other day, my nine-year-old son wanted to know why we were at war.
I knew that my husband would give him a good explanation, if only he was here to explain it to him. But he is in the Reserves and is serving his second rotation in Iraq. He was supposed to be home 6 months ago, but his date to come home keeps getting moved back. In fact, he finished his commitment to the Reserves a year ago, but the military's Stop-Loss Order has kept him in.
So I thought for a few minutes and then told my son to go stand in our front living room window. I said, "Son, stand there and tell me what you see?"
"I see trees and cars and our neighbors' 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," I said.
"OK Mom, I'm pretending."
"Now I want you to pretend that a very bad group of people breaks into our house, and attacks it, and kills your brother....what would you do?"
"I would cry and be very sad."
"Yes, of course, but what else?"
"I would be angry and would want to kill those bad people."
"Right. Now look out the window and pretend that those bad people are hiding in that neighbor's house. Many of your friends are also upset, and they help you go into that house with you to try and get all the bad men. And you get a lot of them, but a lot are still hiding. What do you then?"
"I would get more help and keep looking for the bad men."
"No, son, you shift most of your attention to that house down the street, where the mean old man who we don't like lives."
"Why would we that?"
"Well, he is very evil, and we think he might have weapons."
"But haven't the police been searching his house for weapons and they haven't found anything? And hasn't he been under house arrest for the past 13 years?"
"Yes, but he's very dangerous."
"More dangerous than that crazy old Korean man or that Persian family over on the next block?"
"No, but let's just ignore them."
"Ignore them?"
"Yes, ignore them. Now don't question me, it's unpatriotic. Now pretend that we're going to invade the mean old man's house."
"Shouldn't we wait until we're sure he has weapons?"
"No. We pretty darn sure, that's good enough."
"Are our friends going to help again.?"
"No, just a couple of them. Most of them want evidence for some reason. So what would you do?"
"Well, since Uncle Eric is an Army General I'd ask him how many people we would need."
"Yes, but Uncle Donald didn't like his answer."
"But Uncle Donald was never in the Army. Why would he know better?"
"Never you mind. So now pretend you're invading the mean old man's house. Now what?"
"Well, first thing I would look for the weapons and if I found them I would guard them or destroy them."
"Yeah, well, you don't have enough people to do that. You better just protect his oil tank in the basement. Now what?"
"Well, I would help all the mean old man's poor kids build a better life for themselves. They must be very happy to see him gone!"
"They are very happy at first, but many get frustrated because you can't protect them."
"Why can't I?"
"Well, you don't have enough people."
"But I would have if I would have listened to Uncle Eric. And if I didn't make all of my friends mad."
"Forget about that son, because freedom is on the march. So what are you going to do now?"
"Well, I guess I better look at the mistakes I made and try to correct them. And get my friends to help me again."
"Oh son, you didn't make any mistakes. In fact, if you had to do it all over again, you would do it exactly the same way."
"I would? But Mom, what about the mean men that killed my brother?"
"Well, you did get 75% of their leaders."
"But haven't new leaders come and taken their place? And didn't occupying that other house made a lot of people hate us and now decide to join them? And another thing, why haven't we better protected our house to prevent a future attack?"
"Well, son, we would if we could pay for it. But we had to give all our money to your rich Uncle Ken, remember? After all, we have our priorities."
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