what do you think of this story?

Question

My sister sent this to me and I have kept it for a while. I reread it tonight and wanted to know what you thought. I know that not alot of people agree with the war but does this atleast make some sense out of it for you...
Don't Close Your Blinds
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 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 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 do you do son?"
"I'd call the police, Dad."
"OK. Pretend that the police are the United Nations. They take your call. They 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 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 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?"
"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 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 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 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 its too late." my husband whispers. THAT scenario I just gave you is WHY we are at war with Iraq . When good men stand by and let evil happen son, THAT is the greatest atrocity in the world. "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 AMERICA SO THAT IN THE FUTURE OUR CHILDREN WILL NEVER HAVE TO CLOSE THEIR BLINDS..."

Just let me add that I understand that dubya was wrong in his decision but I have 2 family members overseas and support them. That is why I enjoyed this story it gives children of the men and women overseas meaning to why mom/dad is not at home. Children do not understand what we as adults do.

This was not put (on my part anyways) to support Bush. I put this because sometimes the things that happen in this war have underlying reasons. Fine Oil, then why are gas prices so out of control. Fine No WMD, but starving,beaten,robbed,killed,tortured human beings. That is why I support this. General human concern. If Oil and profits are the root who cares. We are helping many many people. I am sorry if this offends someone out there but until you walk a mile in someones shoes can you really say what (if anything) you would do? And PS I am not a bush supporter I didnt vote for him but the end results will be that the people of Iraq and the children will have a chance that they never would have had if our troops didnt go there. Regardless of why. That is why my father and brother-in-law is over there. What you chose to believe is fine but I do not consider this story crap. This story is about help. Pure and simple.

Answer 1

It sure makes a person understand a lot more of these difficult situations. It`s made me realize a lot more than u think

Answer 2

Thank you JackMack and Kalel for putting this rhetoric in perspective. Dubya and pals don’t care about people, only profits. There are more terrible people than Saddam in the world but since they aren’t sitting on huge oil reserves we look the other way. And if we really wanted to stop people like Bin Laden, then why did we stand down so quickly in Afghanistan? Again, no money but Dubya had to go after them there following 9/11 (I do support that action, but we should not have given up the chase so easily back then).

Don’t ever think that anyone who criticizes Bush doesn’t support the military. It is entirely patriotic to question the mission and yet still support the troops.

Answer 3

It seems very simple. USA invaded Iraq on the pretext of getting rid of WMD. The truth is that Bush Administration knew from the
beginning that Iraq's WMD did not exist. Why invade? Becuase Saddam Hussein tried to kill his father, Bush Sr.. After winning the 2000 election, Iraq was already on his agenda - Regime Change. Iraqi war is an unfinished family business - REVENGE.
Look at North Korea - thumbing his nose with missles and nuclear weapon. Why does not Bush attack N. Korea? Because N. Korea's Kim did not try to kill his father. Politics is real dirty. People with genuine heart could be easily manipulated
by dirty politicians.

Answer 4

That is a great story. I read it to a liberal friend of mine and he laughed and said that it was more conservative brainwashing. I disagree and think that it is acurately portrayed. I know that I'd do the same thing in the same situation. I'm thankful that Bush was elected. If Kerry would have been president around 9/11, we'd probably be speaking Arabic by now.

Answer 5

Pathetic attempt to cast George Dubya Bush in a better light.

Bush's pretext for war was that Sadam had WMDs. It was not true. The war was for revenge, on all the Arab world, regardless of the fact that Iraq had never attacked us.

If Bush had said I WILL INVADE TO PROTECT THE NATION OF IRAQ'S CITIZENS, then this story would be somewhat true. Of course, that didn't happen. America wouldn't have approved it, either.

Republican propaganda. And terribly clumsy, I might add.

The father in the story is hammering his kid, too... about what I would expect.

--In response to the asker's additional details: I respect your feelings, and I pray your family comes back. This is a hard issue. Mismanagement at the Presidential level doesn't mean that some good can't still come of it. Perhaps some Iraqi lives will be improved. But the outlook is grim. The entire Middle East is destabilized. Terrorists recently tried to bring down a bunch of trans-Atlantic flights, and if you think that's the last we'll hear from them, I sure don't. Nothing would surprise me now, not even nuclear terrorism. And who do we invade then? Dubya played our trump card too early in the game. He's a ROTTEN player. But what are these moms supposed to say, that their sons died for nothing? We have to look for the good, there's no damn choice.

I was raised by Republicans. I love my country, and it brings a lump to my throat when I realize I don't respect the decisionmakers we are electing. Dubya is not protecting America's sons. It's hellish beyond imagination.

Supporting the troops must not be construed as supporting the war. We have to get Iraq's self government up and running, and get the hell out, and see what we can do to patch things up with a world that now thinks of us as cowboy-barbarians. It is going to take decades to repair the damage.

As for what the kids should hear? - Not THAT story. It's too manipulative. Kids grow up, and they remember. Instead, tell them there are places with so much hate you can't walk down the street... here, and other places. People do hateful things just to get noticed, and they crashed planes in New York and hurt lots of people. We wanted to fix it so that wouldn't happen again, but it's complicated, and it's hard to agree on what to do. We're still trying to fix it.

I hope your dad and brother in law are all right.

Answer 6

I think that's spectacularly simplistic, hugely manipulative, and utterly misleading with respect to our current situation in Iraq and elsewhere in the world.

The logic breaks down very quickly when you turn back the clock just a hair and read the many quotes by folks like Rumsfeld, Cheney, Wolfowitz, and others cheering on Saddam for gassing his own people with the chemical weapons that the United States sold him in the 1980's.
Politics is rarely so straightforward as to be easily explained by stories such as this. It's nice to believe that the world works that way, and that we have the money, people, and will to be the world's policeman - and it's nicer still to believe that we're on the side of morality - but it just isn't so. We're on the side of whatever the people who've bought our politicians believe will make them rich. That's the real simplification that leads to meaningful insight.

Answer 7

Great story !
Those who didnt like the story or take the time to read it, what is our reason for the war. we know youll say oil but be more imaginative than that

Answer 8

I read this story a while ago. Loved it then. Love it now. My husband and his brother have been over I know how you feel.

Answer 9

that's a great story. I served in the military for 10yrs and would not hesitate to do it all over again.

Answer 10

wonderful story it touched me !!! i wish more would understand and stop u.s doing what we need to do . i also served tried to go back after9/11 but was told too old . it seems they keep rasing it but not fast enough they need to go to 44 . let me defend my U.S.A. . i would like to have everyone who does not agree with this e-mail me