The wisdom of an almost seven year-old

[gilpo]

I was reading the Minneapolis Star-Tribune this morning, the usual coffee-paper morning ritual. I glanced at a picture of a soldier sleeping on a hospital bench, sleeping with his arm thrown over his eyes. I commented to my wife that my dad, who served in the army in the early 60's still sleeps like that... old habits I guess. My daughter wanted to see the picture, which I showed her. She asked me why he was sleeping like that and I explained that they couldn't turn out the lights in the hospital and that when you are a soldier it is important to get sleep when you can. She then asked me a question that really gets to me.

"Daddy, do army people ever sleep, or do they keep on warring forever?"

I was stunned. I tried to explain that the war will be over eventually, but we don't really know when. Think of it from her perspective, we have been at war in Iraq and Afghanistan for almost as far back as she can remember. So to her, war is the natural state of the world. This is not the way I wanted to have my children become cognizant of the wider world. It past time to get our country out of the mess we created in Iraq.

[shain from kane]

1. Shades of 1984.

Raise her to work for peace. We need more war protesters.

>>>"Think of it from her perspective, we have been at war in Iraq and Afghanistan for almost as far back as she can remember. So to her, war is the natural state of the world."<<<

[sinkingfeeling]

2. And war is the only state that many Iraqi and Afghan children have ever

know as well. And they will forever remember who brought it upon them.

[madokie]

3. Sad isn't it

Think of it from her perspective, we have been at war in Iraq and Afghanistan for almost as far back as she can remember. I'm fortunate that my kids are grown and know what a good place this can be. They both are proud Democrats

[izzie]

4. I often tell my children and grand children this

As a kid I was for ever seeing families on roads with things they owned and planes coming over shooting at them. and I have seen this my whole life and now it is not Japan and Germany but American planes. I do not think I planned on this.Since I was born in 34 the world was a war and some ones army was doing that stuff to some one, some place, forever.

[silverojo]

5. War isn't pretty, but there's never a time without war

I was born during the Vietnam war, near Fort Riley, KS. It was common to see tanks cross the highways, holding up traffic, and it was indeed a scary thing for a 4-year-old to see...along with all the news of the casualties, etc.

However, it's unrealistic to think that anybody's kids are going to grow up in a time when there isn't a war *somewhere*. I think kids growing up during WWII were just a little more scared than kids growing up during this war, considering that there was a threat of the war coming to our shores (scratch that -- it did come to our shores, when Pearl Harbor was bombed), our citizens were involved in it (rationing, victory gardens, blackout curtains, plane spotting, etc.). On these shores, kids aren't exposed to *anything* like the kids during WWII...like the German-American kids or Jewish kids whose families fearfully changed their names from something like "Schlater" to "Slater", because they were terrified that Hitler would track them down when he took over America.

Let's face it, during this war, people aren't even slowing down to save gas, let alone having gas rationed. This is easily the most disgustingly comfortable war ever, because it's just being dumped on innocent citizens in a faraway place. All we see of war are "Support our troops" magnets made in China! Aside from the soldiers and their families, nobody's making any real sacrifices. Rosie the Riveter has become Rosie the SUV Driver.

A parent's job is to help children understand why wars happen, and -- in this case -- to explain why this war was an illegal act, and morally wrong. But to bemoan the fact that your kid's growing up during a time when war has been going on as long as he/she can remember...if you only raised kids when there were lengthy wars, nobody would ever reproduce!

[gilpo]

6. I totally agree..

It just hit me hard that this is just all so perpetual.

War is a natural occurrence, but this war was different, it was by choice and is illegal. Earthquakes are natural too, but no one chooses for one to occur. I will be diligent in explaining the difference to her.