Good Lives After Bad

One thing I find extremely disappointing in this presidential race is when I hear certain candidates promising the public that they will continue our current wars until the end and to hear their audience of people vigorously cheering such a stand. John McCain told the story of a woman on one of his campaign stops coming up to him and telling how her son died in the war in Iraq. She wanted Mr. McCain to promise her that her son’s death would not be in vain. Mr. McCain was more than happy to tell this woman that he will see this war to its glorious end and he will guarantee that America will be victorious.

Even though the vast majority of the public wants this war to end now Mr. McCain is making a promise to continue this debacle. Already approaching half a trillion dollars and four thousand American lives Mr. McCain is willing to spend the other half of a trillion dollars and another four thousand American lives in order to help parents find meaning in their children’s death. The woman who lost her son will take solace in the fact that the children of other parents will join her son in the hereafter. Mr. McCain promises to throw good American lives after bad. A lot of the presidential candidates are promising change. In this respect, John McCain has promised to keep things in the mess that they are in.

There was a scene in the movie the Godfather II, the incredible sequel to an incredible original, where the leaders of organized crime were meeting in Cuba and getting ready to carve the island country up for their perspective interest. Michael Corleone was there representing his family’s interest for gambling rights. But on his way to the meeting, Michael caught a fictitious glimpse of the impending revolution headed Cuba’s way. As his car was being driven down a street in Havana they ran into a blockade. A car had been pulled over and was being searched by the Cuban military. The passengers and driver were standing behind the vehicle waiting to be searched. Suddenly, one of the detainees ran up to the military captain and detonated a grenade on his person. The two were killed instantly.

Michael shared this story at the meeting. He was concerned about the rumors of a revolution. Michael made the observation that while the captain was being paid to fight, but the man that blew himself up fought because of his beliefs. With such fanaticism manifesting in support of the revolution Michael’s fear was that their business venture may have been doomed before it could ever get off the ground.

A lot of the people that the United States is fighting in the war in Iraq and in Afghanistan and in many other places around the world are people who are fighting on behalf of an ideology. While we pay our soldiers to go kill the enemy and hopefully not sacrifice their own lives away in the process, the people that our soldiers are fighting against people who are strapping bombs on their person hoping to take out as many people as they can when they make the ultimate sacrifice. These people don’t have a huge, sophisticated, state of the art military machine behind them. Relatively speaking these are the rebels using their belief in the Force to battle Darth Vader’s empire and bring balance back to the universe.

As the new emperor Mr. McCain and his supporters stand ready to continue this fight until the enemy is destroyed. People cheer with the enthusiasm of the home team at the football game when the coach promises to take his team to victory. We’ll win because we’re righteous. However, I’m sure there are people on the other side of this bloody struggle who feel that they are righteous as well. They feel so strongly about what they believe that they are ready to die for it. And there are women and mothers ready to take their babies into the after life as well. Their righteousness is infectious.

The woman wanted to make sure her son didn’t die in vain. This might sound harsh but I would pose the question why doesn’t she join the military or hop on a commercial flight to go over to Iraq and do her own thing to make sure her soldier son’s life wasn’t sacrificed in vain. What if all the parents in Iraq and Afghanistan and in all the other places around the world where the United States have killed and murdered so many people in the name of protecting the interest of America got together and asked the people who fight on their behalf to make sure that their children’s lives weren’t sacrificed in vain? What makes this woman think she’s the only one that has suffered?

Even if I was a conservative or a member of the Republican side of thinking I hope I would have the decency to think that I wouldn’t want anyone else to lose their children simply because I want to give my child’s death meaning. There are so many different ways to find meaning in the sacrifice of a loved one. There are positive ways to find meaning in the loss of a child. Obviously this woman is in pain. Maybe she could find meaning by fighting to bring an end to war to keep other mothers from having the same pain. That would be a wonderful tribute to her son and all the other sons and daughters and fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters and lovers that we have lost.

Voting for someone to become President because they promise to do more killing is too dark of a concept. If you’ve lost a loved one then do them a favor and learn from their sacrifice. We need to learn to stop sending more people to die in a fight against an ideology. It is foolish to think we can kill into submission people who are volunteering to die. Our next President needs to focus on getting us out and not use our pain of loss to keep America in.