azulparsnip,
How are things in the Tarheel state?
I also have family, there!
Are you coastal, piedmont, or in the mountains?
My feeling is that both Nam was and the current conflict is, futile!
So parents raising the children with the values of sacrifice for any reason for those kinds of conflicts is senseless!
Many people in the macrobiotic community, for instance could have children old enough to go fight in Iraq.
My guess is that very few if any of these people have children embroiled in that conflict!
I avoided the draft (in 1968) by standing up straight, putting me two inches over the height limit and earning me a 1-Y deferment, and had I raised children I would have taught them to avoid stupid conflicts both here and in other lands.
How about you?
By the way, though I support our troops and their staying out of harms way (and coming home as soon as it is feasible for them and for the safety of the Iraqi people), I am against the war and the reasons for making it!
Yes, I support freedom of the individual and not a totalitarian government or society telling individuals what to do!
And I also don't believe in a personal god that people must obey and be rewarded or disobey and be punished.
If any universal force exists, I don't believe that it is concerned with the actions of society or the individuals within it.
Unlike a king, president or leader who is dependent on the actions for his/her position, survival, and existence, any universal force, personified, would really not need anything from anyone as it could provide for all it's own needs or wants!
Thank you, very much.
Bruce Paine