December 1, 2004

Almost Broken

Last month one hundred thirty five of our young men and women died in a foreign land bringing the White Man's Freedom and Democracy to the heathens in the Middle East. It was a month almost as bloody as the record month of April 2004, which was followed by May 1, 2004, on which day we commemorated President Bush's famous May 1, 2003, appearance on the USS Abraham Lincoln in which he pranced before a banner that said, "Mission Accomplished," and proclaimed the end of major combat operations in Iraq. This year the President tells us that it is the mission of the United States of America to bring freedom and democracy to the Iraqi people, whether they want it or not. We certainly showed them how we do that in Fallujah. They are still burying some of the recently freed ones over there.

Why should we be concerned about our dead or their dead? We must "stay the course" because it is the right and Christian thing to do. King George now tells us it is our mission to do this, echoing the words of King Richard in another millennium. Can you look into the eyes of our fallen and brave when they appear at the end of the News Hour in silence? Do you read their names and their ages and the places they once called home? Do you think of the parents, spouses, lovers, friends, siblings, and children that they left? Do you really care about the promise and the fire that shone in those eyes, now forever closed and lifeless?

Freedom is indeed precious. That is why we must keep its flame burning in our hearth, always. When a neighbor whose fire has gone out comes to ask for help, we give him some embers to take back to his fireplace, where he will blow on them softly until they are fanned into the flame that keeps warm his home and cooks the food for his family. We do not run over to his house, kick in the door, and burn the place down.

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