I was talking to my oldest son yesterday. We were pondering about our great life and how people seem to think that we've made out pretty well in the scheme of things. We were talking about how people make choices. You know, I am lucky because my 15 year old has conversations with me about these things. It's good. Overall, we do have a very good life.
But during our conversation, I realized that one of the reason's our life is so good is that we appreciate it more than most. You see, I've sent my husband to war. He's come back, safe, sound, and whole. But the process of having a loved one in a war zone makes everyday life problems look pretty small and manageable.
My boys feel the same way. My oldest often tells me that the teenagers around him complain daily about stupid, meaningless things. They have worries in their lives that look paltry in the bigger scheme of things; they look paltry compared to the fear of losing your dad. Many of these kids don't have a world view at all - they have a view of their little tiny community and can't see past that.
The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq changed millions of lives, and not just American ones. Listening to President Obama last night, I heard what I expected to hear. I heard a well spoken politician walk a fine line between keeping his generals in the field happy and the American public happy.
Keeping a major amount of our forces in Afghanistan gives him flexibility to see what is going to happen as we begin to withdraw - I get that. But it means that we're not committed to withdrawing. We're committed to seeing what happens. It means there is a good chance we might send more troops back if things get worse.
If that's not the case, why not just bring them all home now?
Last night in the comments on the liveblog about Obama's speech, people tried to tell me that Obama was being responsible.
Okay. I had to think about that.
- Is it responsible to spend more of our tax dollars on a war without a clear mission?
- Is it responsible to send more new kids out into the field of battle? (yes, we're bringing home people but we will also be sending in new troops. Deployments don't stop)
- Is it responsible to replace the logistics troops being removed with civilian contractors? (they will have to replace logistic troops with somebody otherwise you can't support the fighting troops and that seems to be the direction this withdrawal will have to take; generals don't want to lose fighting troops)
At some point, the Afghani's have to run their own government. They are not children. They are grown adults who know right from wrong and often chose the wrong one. But I'm ready for it to be their business. I'm ready for us not to be fighting anymore. I'm ready to not worry about my husband's next assignment being smack dab in the middle of Afghanistan.
Do me a favor... call your Senators and your Representativesand let them know what you think. You may not agree with me, but call. Show them that it's not only military families watching the President speak. Show them that other Americans care, one way or another about what we're doing in Afghanistan.
And for those of you that support President Obama so strongly in his 'responsible' decisions... do me a favor. Just imagine for a moment if you would feel the same way if a Republican had made the same decision?