Soapbox

I must admit that there are enough crises occurring in my personal life that watching the daily news is stress-overload for me right now. There really is no way to maintain a business as usual attitude when one's country goes to war, however. Like it or not, war is reality today.

Earlier today, I struggled with telling my kids what is happening. As children, they need to feel safe. They need to know that thousands of men and women are putting themselves in harm's way for us. Those men and women, as well as the people they fight, ironically, are all someone's sons and daughters. In all probability, their mothers feel the same sense of horror I do when thinking of our children in danger.
We took out the atlas to see where the fighting will occur. Sure, it's 'over there' and probably won't affect the daily comings and goings of my children's lives. 'Over there' is home to other families, though, some probably not too different from ours. While my children sleep, others wake to explosions in their city; a very sad irony.

In children's play, things are very concrete. It is clear who is a 'bad guy' and who is a 'good guy'. They fight, the bad guy loses, the game is over and nobody gets hurt. Sadly, in the grown-up world, it is rarely that simple.

It could be about weapons of mass destruction. It could be about respecting UN mandates. It could be about a double-standard in foreign policy. It could be about fighting terrorism. It could be about oil. It could be about imposing American standards on other cultures. Any way you look at it, humans somewhere are in danger. CNN's sound bites may ignore it, but this is true regardless of what side you find yourself on.

One of the hardest things to do as a parent is explain the unexplainable. "Why" uttered by a child is daunting indeed. Prayers for peace are the only response that make sense.

Blessings,
Catie

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About the Author : Catie Hayes is founder/editor of WomanLinks.com; a community of support, spirituality, growth and empowerment for women. She is a freelance writer, the single homeschooling mom of two, and an avid fan of laughter, spontaneous dancing, cats and chocolate (not necessarily in that order).