So I’ve been reading a lot lately. I recently became interested in the Zion Covenant series by Bodie Thoene. This series begins in 1934 (an amazing 7 years before America got into the war!), I think, with a girl in Austria. Hitler has taken over Germany, but has not invaded Austria yet. As the story progresses, we see the girl disbelieving Hitler’s imminent take-over. She, like many Austrians, believes France & England will stand by their word and protect Austria.
As we know now, this didn’t happen. France & England did little to nothing to stop Hitler from invading Austria & taking over. A lot of what I read reminded me of the thoughts we hear today in regard to the war in Afghanistan & the war in Iraq. People tend to not believe that others would be so cruel, and if they could, so omnipotent. They also tend to think since Iraq is a continent away that we are not affected by the goings-on there and thus should not be involved.
Today I was watching “Quantum Leap”. The episode happened to be about a girl who was against the Vietnam war. Watching it now, I understand much more than I did when I first saw the episode. Being patriotic, I have always wanted America to win, but I used to not understand why so many of our soldiers died in that war. Now I wonder why there was no clamor over the millions who died when we left.
Things I understand now –
- a whole lot of people died when we pulled out of Vietnam.
- Because you could get out of going to the war by being in post-graduate school, a lot of people went to seminary or became lawyers.
- people said very much the same things then that others had said concerning WWII – that it was not our war to fight, that people didn’t want us over there, etc.
In the “Quantum Leap” episode, Sam tells the girl that this war (Vietnam) is going to end because people like her keep chipping away at it. That statement was what prompted this post. What would happen if instead of trying to undermine our efforts over in Iraq, instead of “chipping away” at the war we are fighting, people stood together united and strong? Unity and promises kept might have stopped Hitler from invading Austria. Causing people (namely Saddam Hussein) to keep their promises might have saved a lot of people in Afghanistan & Iraq.
We watched a video blog of a soldier one night. He was showing a town that had been a huge hotbed of fighting and such. It’s safe now. People are moving back in. The Iraqi forces are protecting the people, and the American forces are helping them. But we don’t see this on the news because it means we are actually succeeding, slowly but surely, in our fight against terrorism.
I think we get so comfortable in our freedom that we fail to realize what it would be like to live without it. I cannot imagine living in a place where I could not express my thoughts as I am now; where I could not wear what I wanted to wear or go where I wanted to go; where men live in fear for their wives’ and daughters’ lives; where you never know if your neighbor is nice or an informant; where you might not have a Bible, or be able to gather together in worship; where so many of the common things we take for granted are not thought of and survival is a daily necessity.
Thankfully, God has placed me in America! Thankfully, God continues to protect America & allows her to be a strong nation that the world looks to in their time of need.
