I just had a conversation with my son....

[waiting for hope]

He's a really sweet boy, only about a week and a half left to go of Kindergarten. They had been discussing Memorial Day and what it means and he really wanted to write to a soldier. The only one we knew of was the husband of one of the teachers at his after school daycare. I asked her this morning if it was okay, she almost starting crying, got me almost crying....anyway, he's a CPL in Fallujah, has another 40 days to go, then he's coming home for two weeks and then he's being deployed again. We talked a bit - she said that they are all calling it a Civil War over there and they don't even know what "winning" is. She also said that the military is being stretched too thin. We chatted about what he would like (sending some Mary Jane candy with the letter) and what she was sending as well.

I had to go - was dropping my two year old off and then I had to take my son to school and I just got this overwhelming sense that she really wanted to talk .. I wish I had the time this morning but plan on making a point of getting there tomorrow morning a bit earlier, so if she wants, she can.

This evening my son made out his card, his little six year old handwriting all over the page but basically it said "Thank you for keeping us safe" - those were his words. He drew a picture of himself at the beach with lots of bright colors and interesting but somewhat recognizable sea life. Afterward, as I was getting ready to read to him, he asked when the war was going to be over. Do you have have those moments with a child when you just can't say what you really want to because they just won't understand? I responded with an ambiguous "I don't know" and he pressed, "When all the bad guys are dead?" "Honey, it's really more complicated than that, but hopefully it will be over soon." Thankfully he got distracted and I was able to put him to bed.

This is not a war, it's an occupation, pure and simple. I could not lie to my son by supporting the notion that it's just a matter of good guys killing bad guys and then I got angry, why, dammit, why do I have to explain to my six year old what this stinking shit pile of a "war on terror" means? I want all of this to be over, it's wearing this nation down like a collective wet blanket that is just too heavy, uncomfortable and wrong - really wrong. What kind of world is my son and daughter going to grow up in? Are they going to publish a What To Expect When Your Child Asks About The "War" book? I just don't know what to say...

When Bush said to David Gregory "They are a threat to your children, David. And whoever's in that Oval Office better understand it and take measures necessary to protect the American people."....I just want to call the SOB out - Fuck you Mr. Bush, come over to my house around 8:00 in the evening, read to my son Dr. Seuss' The Sneetches and then tell him about this war - oh yeah, no lying, tell him the truth. Then I get a dose of reality, Mr. Bush has no soul and he would never understand the meaning behind The Sneetches.

Rant over..

:mad:

[Redstone]

1. Not easy being a Mom these days, is it? We've been through all this with our

now-11-year-old, and it's been a tough job, ever since 9-11-2001, balancing what we say with what we know and with what we feel.

Do take the time to talk with your teacher friend some more if you can.

And, by the way, not only a good rant, but a valuable one. Many people with kids will apreciate you taking the time to write it.

Redstone

[waiting for hope]

2. Thanks - and yes, it really is hard sometimes.

I plan on talking with her some more in the morning, she looked like she really needed an ear. :)

[Sonicmedusa]

3. Try to feel what is like to have a son turning 18...

Who has to register with Selective Service this year.

I want to tell them all...Yes, even Democrats....

FUCK YOUR SELVES....YOU CANNOT HAVE MINE!!!!!

[Bjornsdotter]

4. Has he made a CO file?

If he is going to now is the time to do it.

cheers

[Sonicmedusa]

6. The time to start one has passed.

He thinks I am full of shit that they will not own his nuts. I really think so much of is bravado is fear. The boy has viewed a bit of history channel...... BUT....

These kids do not see the REAL carnage due to what they do not allow on TV. This is SO different to the Vietnam war when we saw body bags and flags draped coffins on a daily basis. THIS IS HOW THIS ADMIN AND THEIR LYING MEDIA WHORES lie to us and OURS DAILY. He has laughed at me and at the "Draft Boogieman" for TOO long.

This will have to happen!!!

The RIGHT is not knocking down doors to enlist THEIRS.....Who the hell is going to fight this shit???

[noamnety]

5. through the looking glass here

One of my students' parents came in today to get some photos I'd taken of her son on a CD. I had the soldiers from our state that had been killed up from Memorial Day still. Turns out her husband is in Iraq.

I have an interview with her son on tape, about a performance he did. But the dad will never see the performance itself. I told her I would copy the interview on a DVD for her to mail - and I realized afterwards I have a tape of a rehearsal. I'm going to add that on as well.

[Madspirit]

7. k&r...n/t

[PinkyisBlue]

8. This reminds me of what the right wingers said when Clinton was in office...

"What do we tell the children?"

How do we explain an immoral, illegal occupation to our children? Things have become a lot more complicated in the last 9 years.

[emilyg]

9. Yep

[MikeH]

10. The really hard thing would be telling him who the REAL "bad guys" are

Not whom a child would naturally first think, or want to think.

[waiting for hope]

11. That's what really got to me -

It's not like it was in WWII where there was a clear cut enemy bent on killing Americans, and I can believe that if it wasn't for the American occupation, many Iraqi's would still be alive and not thinking about involving themselves in sectarian violence. I wonder how the parents of kids during Vietnam dealt with this issue for they are somewhat similar in trying to define all the parameters.

My husband and I are news junkies, either MSNBC or Cnn is playing in the background in the evenings - my two year old gets all pumped when the music for Countdown comes on and she'll yell "Keith!" ... I'm wondering how much of that is filtering through his head? Maybe we should curtail all the cable news but then again, I'm hoping this will plant seeds of interest in being politically aware and active. Where is the balance?