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Rules of engagement War, the Fog ofBy Rick Horowitz "Mommy, is it bad to have a war?" "What?" "Is it bad to have a war?" "Now, Tracy, what put a thought like that in your head? Honestly, sometimes you -- " "Daddy was watching the news. On TV." "I see. And were they talking about the war? On TV?" "Uh-huh." "And did it make you frightened? The pictures and everything?" "No." "That's OK -- it's OK to be a little frightened." "Uh-huh."
"So you were a little frightened?" "A little." "That's OK. Sometimes I'm a little frightened, too. But can I tell you something? That war -- the one on TV? -- it's all the way on the other side of the world." "Really?" "Absolutely! It's on TV right here, but where it really is is all the way on the other side of the world. Does that make you feel a little better?" "Uh-huh." "Well, I'm glad! There's no reason you should have to worry yourself about something like that, OK?" "What if big bombs fell on us?" "Big...what?" "Like that man. On his house. With the big bombs." "With the -- OK, now I -- did you see that on TV, too? The house where the big -- where the bombs fell?" "He was dead." "Well, he was a very bad man, and he was trying to hurt a lot of people, and they -- they told him to stop, and he just wouldn't. So they had to make him stop." "With a war?" "Something like that. You see, sometimes -- even though it's bad to have a war, sometimes it can be even worse to let very bad men keep hurting a lot of people, so you have a war to make him stop." "Like a timeout?" "That's right -- like a timeout. Only it lasts for a very long time." "'Cause he's dead?" "Cause he's dead." "What if he isn't dead?" "What do you mean, 'What if he isn't dead?' Dead is dead. I don't -- " "Right away. Daddy said he wasn't dead right away. With the big bombs. He still lived. And people came." "I see. And you're wondering why in the world..." "To make him better. But then he was dead. They couldn't make him better." "Well, that's because the bombs hurt him really a lot, and after that he just -- " "Right between his eyes." "What about 'right between his eyes'?" "Daddy said they should have put one right between his eyes." "Daddy said that?" "Just to make sure. That's what Daddy said." "Well, I can certainly understand why he might have said that." "Because it was a very bad man?" "That's right -- because it was a very bad man." "But they wanted to make him better?" "Yes." "Even though they wanted to make him dead?" "Well, those were entirely different -- no, you're right. That is pretty confusing, isn't it?" "Mommy?" "What, sweetie?" "I hope I don't have to be in a war." "So do we, sweetie. So do we." Posted 6/14/06. For
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Rick Horowitz
