Iraq, The Military, and My Son

I have been following the story of the three missing soldiers in Iraq, and this morning I heard the news of their bodies found, beheaded near where they were ambushed and taken. It hurts my heart. What in the world are we doing there?? Sure, after 911, I was gung-ho in bringing down the terrorists and destroying those involved. And sure, I was gung-ho when Bush told the American people that he was going to bring down Suddam and his "weapons of mass destruction", and yes, I admit I cheered when we captured him and tore his statue down from the town square. But that seems like a lifetime ago. We didn't find any weapons of mass destruction. Oh sure, I think there probably was some buried in the desert sand somewhere, but ok, we searched and couldn't find anything. Suddam is now on trial for the atrocities that he has done to his people. So WHY are we still there?? Oil? To help a civil war between people in another country? I just don't get it. Why is it up to US to "help" all these people in other countries when all the while, our own soldiers are being killed left and right and for WHAT??? Forgive me if I sound harsh and un-caring, because that is far from the truth, but if they are having their own civil war over in another country over religion or whatever, why should we care? I say, let them fight it out. Let them decide HOW their country is to be ran. Why do we have to take our ways and force another country to uphold the way we live? This whole war makes no sense to me. Bush cries out about the "fight on terrorists". Well, that is fine and dandy and I am all for the fight on terrorists. But this is a mish-mash between the fight on terrorists and Bush's own agenda for whatever reason. Innocent people getting blown up every day is not a fight on terrorists. It is people from another country telling us to get the hell out of their country and let them fight it out themselves. We here in America had our own civil war and I didn't see another country coming over here and "helping" or getting involved. We fought it out and the "good" side won. So why can't they?

I heard a senator on tv the other day talking about this war and wanting to bring our soldiers home. He said, "these men and women joined the military to fight for their country, NOT to fight for someone else's country!" My sentiments exactly! and that brings me to my son.

My oldest son will be 17 next month. He has one more year of high school and then his mind is made up to enroll in college and to enroll in the Army ROTC program. He wants a career in the military and to eventually work into a politcal career. He is a bright, stubborn, opinionated young man. He agrees with Bush; that we should stay over there and fight for the cause. Believe me, he and I and his dad get into some heated debates over politics and this war. I'm proud that my son has his own opinions and sticks to them no matter how his parents think or what our opinions are. And as a parent, I will be proud of my son when that day comes where he graduates from college and the ROTC program and becomes an officer in the military. BUT also as a parent, my heart hurts knowing that this damn war may not be over after the five more years of schooling that my son has left. And to know he may be stepping into this horrible place that each day could be his last, well....that thought just makes me feel like a knife piercing through my heart. I am proud of our men and women fighting over there, but I am afraid for my son.

My son seems to think he can change the world. He really does. Even though he agrees that we should be over there, one thing he does not agree with, is the way we are handling things over there. He said our generals and all those men "calling the shots" are doing it "all wrong" according to my son. He said he can't wait until he can make some changes and call some of those shots. My son is a history buff. He can tell you anything you want to know about every past war we have ever been in. He knows the strategy and background and that is what he wants to do in the military. He wants to be a strategist; to plan the attacks and to plan the goals. He thinks he can do it better than the men that are doing it now. I say, "go for it". If anyone can do it better than it is being done now, that is my son. He is tremendously upset with the Washington State Judicial System (a story for another blog on another day), and thinks he can make a difference and change this system as well. That is why he also wants a political career eventually. He wants to change things for the good. Maybe he can. I hope he can.

For now, I just follow the news each day and each day hope that this war will be over soon and our soldiers can come home. But then I hear about the missile crisis in North Korea. Yet another country to piss us off. In 5 years when my son gets done with schooling, it may not be the middle east that we are in war with, but some other country all together. It never ends. Until then, I can only be proud of my son and support his decisions and hope that all will be well with the world.

MySpace teens and the trust factor

I had been hearing about MySpace.com; mostly bad happenings on the news of a woman who got raped by some guy she met on MySpace, or a 14-year-old girl who ran off to another country with a guy she met on MySpace. Then just a few weeks ago my 17-year-old son was talking about his MySpace page and all his friends that have pages. I was a bit surprised because I guess I didn't realize it had become that big of a thing with all the teenagers. So, being the nosy person that I am, and always making my kid's business my own, I decided to make a visit to my son's MySpace page.

It was easy really, because my son uses my computer to access the internet since we had a router problem with the computer in his room. So I just checked out the history section of my computer and it took me right away to my son's page. There, I could read his blog, his likes and dislikes, his "all about me" paragraph and then below that are pictures and links to all of his friend's pages as well. Underneath all of his friends links, were comments left by his friends. Nothing really exicting, just some "hello's" and "see you tomorrow at school" and "this weekend was fun", etc etc. But I didn't stop there. I decided to click on the links of his friends to see what their pages looked like as well. I know most of the friends that were on his page and I was aware of some of the acquaintances that were on there, but there were a few names and faces that I did not recognize nor ever hear my son mention the name. So I clicked on each one to check it out.

Most all of my son's close friends had the usual stuff on thier pages with the usual comments and teenage chatter, but in clicking on their pages, I then could continue clicking on pages of their friends and so on and so on, the links never ending. What I ended up finding out between my son, his friends and acquaintances and their friends and acquaintances, was that many of these kids are up to no good! I read about what drugs were being taken and what alcohol was being drank and where the parties were and when the next party was going to be and whose parents were going to be gone for the weekend. I was amazed at the "scoop" that I could find out just by reading some of these kids pages! Now, mind you, my son is not a total angel, nor are his close friends, but thank goodness, in reading his close friend's pages, they pretty much are the "good" kids we think they are, staying out of trouble, not doing drugs and doing well in school. It was the acquaintances and their friends that I was concerned about.

My son and I have a close relationship. He tells me just about everything and I have quite a bit of trust in him. So when he came home from school, I told him about going on his MySpace page and all the things I read about and this kid doing this and that kid doing that. He agreed that some of his aquaintances were into some bad stuff and that is why he doesn't like hanging out with them, but he will see them at school or run into them at a party etc. We talked a long time about my worry that drugs and alcohol were at some of these parties that he and his friends would drop in at. He assured me that he and his close "posse" make good choices and when they see something "bad" happening at one of these parties, they leave. Well, I have to believe in my son. He will be going off to college in another year and I have to slowly let the leash loose, and put my trust in his judgement, even though I just want him to stay at home with me every night! School is out this Monday and summer will be here and I know there will be more parties, and friends hanging out. I just have to trust my son. He knows that with one slip, one mistake and his summer fun is over. Trust.....I just have to trust.

What I don't understand though, is why are there not more parents out there who read their kids MySpace page?? Sure, I have heard some of my son's friends say that it is an invasion of privacy for their parent to snoop into their childs personal page...WHAT?? It is posted on the internet for the public to see, so HOW is that an invasion of privacy? It isn't like I went snooping in a bedroom drawer searching for a diary to read! I was astounded at not only what I learned about these kids and what they are up too and the lies they tell their parents, but also the language the inuendos and the "sex" talk. I think to myself, "surely these parents are not reading this stuff that their kids put out there and not doing anything about it?" and if they aren't reading this stuff, then they should be! I think some of these kids wouldn't be in the trouble they are in if the parents would take a bit more control and get involved and seeing what their kids are up to.

I trust my son...for now.....but you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be reading and clicking- away on MySpace pages all summer long.

School drop-off rant

This is the last week of school and so you would think that having a whole school year to get the "rules" down would have every parent doing what they are supposed to be doing as far as dropping thier little ones off at school. NOT! It is quite easy; you drive into the school, where there is a "loop" of sorts. This circle loops in front of the main entrance to the school and it has an "island" in the middle. The rule is to pull into the circle counterclockwise and pull up as far as you can go, or as far as the car in front of you and drop your child off, making sure you pull as far into the loop as possible so that the whole line of cars behind you can get into this circle and drop their kids off as well. Sounds easy right? Well I guess with some of these parents it is not that easy. Most every day it takes the principal out there directing traffic, motioning vigorously for each driver to PULL FORWARD as to let as many cars get to the curb in the circle to drop their little darlings off. Most days he is there and most parents obey his hand signals and pull forward. WELL...the days the principal is not out there for whatever reason, you have these parents, most, but not all of them, in expensive SUVS or Mercedes, pulling their cars into the loop and stopping smack-dab in front of the entrance so that their child does not have to walk those extra 10 steps to the front door! They pay NO attention to us behind them, either that or they don't care that they are making us wait in the line of cars. Not only do they stop and take their time, chatting with their child in the backseat, but sometimes they get out, go around and open the door, let out little Susie or Johnny, kiss them goodbye, turn, wave, then mosey on back around to get back into their car, all the while, we wait and wait for them to move their car so that we too can drop off our children. What is wrong with these parents???!!! Are they so arrogant that they can't show common courtesy to the other drivers behind them? Don't they know the "rules" of drop off at the school by now?? Just a few days ago, a car was stopped in the very middle of the loop, in front of the entrance, and there is a car behind that one and so it is my turn to pull forward. I pull as close to the car in front of me as to let as many cars behind me pull in as well. My two youngest boys get out and head off to their class. I patiently wait for the car in front of me to start moving and then I notice that the car in front of her is empty! Well, I can't back up because there are cars behind me. We are all packed in, not being able to move and so therefore not able to let cars behind us drop off their kids. I was FUMING. Just then I see the culprit of the empty car, some well dressed lady who apparently doesn't give a rats ass who she makes wait. I had had just about enough of these parents. So, I bring my window down and I scream at her, "YOU CAN'T LEAVE YOUR CAR THERE! YOU NEED TO PULL FORWARD!!" She looks at me, shrugs and gets into her car. I tell you what...if I wasn't still in my pajamas, I would have been out of my car and in that woman's face so fast. Arrogance! So, if anyone from Woodmoor Elementary School ever reads this blog, you know who you are and you should be ashamed.

My first ever, blog

I am new to all this blogging stuff, but not new to getting up on my soap box and giving opinions about any subject that I find interesting or I am passionate about. My mind is always racing with thoughts and information and I am usually dying to talk to someone about, or at least get them down on paper to finally get them out of my head. So, I figured starting a blog would be an interesting endeavor. Hopefully, someone out there is going to want to share information with me or start an interesting debate. Either that or maybe I will be able to give a thought-provoking opinion or question to someone else. I guess we will see how this goes. Should be an interesting ride.