"Flags of our Fathers"

I cannot imagine watching as my best friend takes his last breath in my arms or having to watch in helpless anguish as a helicopter is shot out of the sky, the soldiers inside burning to death as I can do nothing but watch. I cannot imagine playing cards with friends one night knowing that the next day there is a great chance I could lose half or more of them to bullets and shrapnel. I cannot imagine having to look into the eyes of a child and realize that I have to kill him solely because I am fearful that he will kill me first.

I understand pain and death but cannot fully fathom all that the atrocities of war have etched into the memories of the soldiers fighting the endless battles. We hear about war all the time, be it in history books, on television or in conversation, but I don't know that any of us actually understand exactly what war is, and how evil it can make a heart, unless we are unfortunate enough to have experienced it ourselves.

Over 3000 American (not to mention over 50,000 Iraqi) lives have been lost in the current war. 3000. I understand the reasons for war: greed and false idealism being two of the most prevalent. I also get that some wars have to happen, or at least some level of involvement in quelling arguments between angry factions. But what I fail to understand is how easily the lives of the individuals fighting the wars are minimalized, becoming, in essence, numbers rather than humans.

Have you ever thought about what those minds contained? I wonder how many Einsteins, Pasteurs or Fords have been lost. I wonder the how many life altering ideas, cures for illness, new methods of transport, smarter ways to live life, died with those soldiers, not to mention the altered the lives of those left behind, struggling to find the why in death, understand the need for the sacrifice.

At what point in the existence of humankind do we begin to seek peace rather than gain? At what point will it be safe for everyone in the world to walk late at night, or to enter a room full of different skinned yet like minded people and see the striking commonality all humans possess rather than the minute differences, to know what it feels like to strive for change and growth rather than power and corruption?

How many have to have their lives sacrificed far short of their potential before the leaders of this world, the ones who actually possess the power realize life should be about living, and that each life in this world is as valuable as every other life. To aspire to live for the sake of taking in the beauty of the world around us rather than scheming, plotting and sacrificing others in their name for accrued wealth is truly a life worth living. Every number has a story, it is sad that many stories are ended before the plot fully develops.