Editor’s Notes

By PATSY STODDARD

The world seems so crazy and mixed up these days, even more so than usual. I support President Bush and the war in Iraq. I don’t like war and people dying. I don’t like to see people protesting against the war and our president, but I am glad we live in a country where we can protest the things which we don’t like or support and we can do so without being shot or hung the next day.
Now that we are fully involved in the conflict I would like to see the people in our country get behind President Bush and support him and the war effort. It’s sad to see people dying because a madman will not surrender. How heartless he must be to see his land and military forces destroyed because he is too proud to let it go. It’s sad that his Iraqi people are so downtrodden and browbeaten that they cannot reach out to the U.S forces who are trying to liberate them. People who have never experienced freedom do not know what they are missing. They do not understand what the U.S. is trying to bring to their country. A country where they do not have to be afraid…a country where they might experience some of the freedoms that we enjoy in our country.
Do you ever wonder how you came to be born in America where these freedoms are taken for granted? Why were the Iraqis born into the regime they are forced to endure. I am proud to live in a country where there are people willing to risk their lives to help those people be liberated. Our country has long been involved in noble causes. Just look at the amount of foreign aid which we send to other countries. How we have helped the underdog time and again.
It’s the popular perception that Americans are hated all over the world. But, I don’t really think that is the case. I have talked to many people who have lived in other countries and they all seem to say that the people there want to be like Americans. We have long been considered the greatest country in the world and I believe that is true. We have come a long way in our country, but there is still a long way to go.
I have a son who always likes to watch “Remember the Titans,” if you’ve never seen this show it’s one that you should watch. I’m not much of a movie watcher, but this show always makes me cry. It’s about a football team and how black and white football players come together to make a team. One lesson from the show is about how they learned that the soul of man knows no color. The people of Iraq have the same souls as we do, they deserve the same advantages that we have known.
It will not be easy and many people will die. The cost of freedom is priceless; there is no way to gauge the worth of a human soul…I know them to be priceless. I know the heavens weep for each loss of life from both sides of the conflict. I hope and pray that Saddam Hussein will end this madness and set his people free.