The Death of Sons

Very seldom do I get an e-mail so thought-provoking that I have to read it more than once, even take the time to answer it directly.

The following is one of those e-mails.

Cindy asked President Bush, “Why did my son have die in Iraq?”
A mother asked President Kennedy, “Why did my son have to die in Viet Nam?”
Another mother asked President Truman, “Why did my son have to die in Korea?”
Another mother asked President Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Why did my son have to die in Iwo Jima?”

Another mother asked President Woodrow Wilson, “Why did my son have to die on the battlefields of France?”

Yet another mother asked President Lincoln, “Why did my son have to die at Gettysburg?”

And yet another mother asked President George Washington, “Why did my son have to die a Valley Forge?”

Then, long, long ago, a mother asked, “Heavenly Father, why did my son have to die on a cross at Jerusalem?”

The answer to all these questions is similar: That others may have life and dwell in peace, happiness and freedom.

After reading this piece several times I couldn’t get it out of my head. What was it that bothered me about this piece? And then, at that moment I knew, really knew, what was bothering me about these questions.

Your son didn’t have to die in Iraq. He was tricked into it by Bush, a lying president who invaded a country that nothing to do with 9/11.

Your son didn’t have to die in Vietnam. We were told that if Vietnam fell the whole peninsula would go communist. After 55,000 American military deaths this phony fiasco got too rich for our blood.

Your son didn’t have to die in Korea. President Truman said this would stop communism. Wrong. Communist North Korea is still more dangerous than ever.
Your son didn’t have to die at Iwo Jima. Roosevelt sucked Japan into attacking us so he could use that as an excuse for fighting the “axis powers” in Europe.

Your son didn’t have to die in French trenches. President Wilson believed we should support England and France, who were fighting Germany. He said “the world must be made safe for democracy”. Sound familiar?

Your son didn’t have to die at Gettysburg. President Lincoln herded us onto war to create an agenda for the Union by doing away with state’s rights. Not, as many believe, to free the slaves.

Your son didn’t have to die at Valley Forge. But he died fighting alongside Washington who helped make us a free nation---one of the few times in history when war was justified, and every man was needed.

Your son didn’t have to die on a cross in Jerusalem. And he wouldn’t have but for the insane, theocratic actions of the “chosen people” at that time; which incidentally, is a source of much of the world’s troubles, even today.

So, apparently, we human beings will have to fight and die another day, because we are too naïve, too uninformed or too stupid to learn from history and from experience.

Mothers of America, you no longer have to bother with questions like: “Why did my son have to die in (fill in a war)?”, because now you already know.