I used to be a big fan of revenge. Ask any one of my ex-boyfriends. (Ha!)
It used to make me feel so much better.
Becoming a mom changed me though, and I see things a little differently.
Maybe this comes across as being a bit naive, but I just can't help but share. I hope I can teach my boys this philosophy as well.
Remember the Dr Seuss book, "How the Grinch Stole Christmas", when the Grinch goes around Whoville and takes all the Christmas presents and decorations from the Who houses? The Who's wake up and come together regardless of there being no presents and they hold hands and sing and are just happy to have one another.
When you hear the news about how one nation is at war with another nation because X nation did THIS to nation Y etc etc etc... at what point will it stop? If you look at the war on terrorism, President Bush came out 9/11 and said "they will pay". But to what extent? There have been FAR MORE Afghanistan and Iraq citizens killed since that day then US citizens. (116,657 Iraqi civilians, not including soldiers or Afghan citizens, 66,077 American's killed since 9/11 in total, source: Wikipedia) Every war is the same. We are LITERALLY teaching our children that it is okay to retaliate when someone does something wrong to you.
While I know this is a complicated issue that has many more complexities to it, I feel like the basis of it was approached all wrong. It has been with every war.
My grandfather was in the Navy during WW2, and enlisted illegally while underage. While I grew up proud that he fought to make sure I am free and all continuing generations are free, my viewpoint of the military system during present events has drastically changed. I don't support it. We send soldiers to a war that isn't ours that has gone on YEARS too long only to be injured (physically or mentally), then they come home with the expectation that the military will help them back on their feet only to find that no, they do not. So much for thanks! It's sad. And not many people are aware. Every Remembrance Day ceremony is a SCAM. I stand up and remember those that were lost in a stupid war for no freaking reason and left so many families broken. I stand up and I think about all the veterans that are living on the streets, struggling every single day with PTSD and who are receiving NO HELP from our government. I think about my grandfather and how disgusted he would be. Because he would be.
Yeah, I realize now I should probably have a flame suit on. I'm sure I'll be called un-patriotic for this post, blah blah blah.
What happened to peace?
"An eye for an eye will make the whole world go blind". -Ghandi
*end rant, zips up flame suit*
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