Growing Up

Dear Mr. President,

Life is not fair. I just read that a Senator from New Hampshire (the “Live Free or Die” state), who was already a Millionaire, won over ¾ of a million in the lottery. He joked that he wouldn’t quit his job, but I guess if you are already a “Millionaire Senator” the term "work" is irrelevant. Do you think anyone dreamt of being a politician when they were children? Probably not, the boys dreamed of being soldiers and the girls dreamed of being nurses. (And in my neighborhood, some of the girls dreamed of being soldiers and some of the boys dreamed of being nurses.) As children we wanted to be strong and help people. When did the desire to be strong outweigh the desire to help people? Let me take that back. I don’t think our individual desire to help people has gone away or even lessened. The American soldiers in Iraq (as well as in other parts of the world and at home) do a job of helping people every day. And while there have been disgraces of strength that marred the reputation of the military, I must continue to believe that a majority of people in the military want to aid those les fortunate, to free those being oppressed, and to simply be the best they can be (for lack of a more apropos cliché). And to some degree the little boy who wanted to be strong, also grew up to be the man with compassion. Because what is strength without compassion? Tyranny? What is strength without morality? Criminal behavior?

Mr. President, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did you want to be strong? Have you learned compassion? When I read about the bill to ban the torture of prisoners by US troops, and your threat to veto it, I was stunned. What is worse? That we need to have a law that says torture is bad? Or having a President that’s willing to veto that law? Let’s assume a few things shall we? Torture is bad. As Americans fighting terrorism, we should not use terrorism as a weapon itself. This keeps our enemies in business. It’s the law of supply and demand. What I want to know is this: If the demand for peace increases, wouldn’t the supply have to as well? We need to demand peace, not just dream about it.

I wonder what our grown-up boys and girls in Iraq are dreaming of now? Probably of being a Millionaire Senator in New Hampshire. Or maybe just of coming home to a country that fights against governments that torture, not one that needs a law to prohibit it.