Dear Person,

Something was said this week, and the more I think about it, the more it bothers me.  I would just like to say...

Dear Person,

From your comments to my six year old student, I assume you are anti-war/pro-peace.  Whatever label you put on yourself, I can respect your viewpoint.  I don't like war either.  I hate the death it brings, the loss and sadness people have to live with as a result, the horrors that come from war, and the aftermath.  I have never had to face those things directly really, not up front and personal in my own town, on my own street or in my neighborhood. Neither have you.  We are so lucky, no blessed, here.  We have never had to hide from the enemy, worry about going to the store and being killed by a stray bullet or blown up by a bomb.  We don't have to worry about our children playing in the yard and being killed in the crossfire...

But, I understand that you have your personal views, just as I do.  Here is where I disagree with you, however.  Whether we like war or not, whether we think our soldiers should go into foreign countries and fight or not, we live in an imperfect, flawed world filled by fallible, messed up human beings who cannot live perfectly.  Conflict happens.  And our soldiers do what they're told to do.  It isn't always what they want, and I'm sure that many times they personally disagree with what the country does, but they serve our nation to protect us- the people.

It is an honorable thing to serve our nation in this way.  Somebody has to do it.  If we have no military, we would be sitting ducks for everyone out there who hates us and wants us dead.  I recognize that I have a biased viewpoint here, and want to tell you that up front.  My grandfather fought in World War II.  My daddy was wounded in Vietnam. My Pop served in the military for twenty years.  I have relatives who have been in all the branches of the military.  My cousin's husband was nearly killed serving in Afghanistan and will have serious lifelong health issues now as a result.  His family paid a heavy price allowing him to give back to our nation- to protect us! My youngest son's greatest desire is to serve his country by being an infantryman, and at the time, he is not able to because of an ear problem.  Many, many soldiers pay a price (and their families right alongside them) to allow us the freedom to dissent, to speak our minds, to publish our own opinions, to meet in public and so many other rights we often take for granted.

So when you treat a kid rudely because you disagree with his desire to be a soldier someday (and yes, even a sniper in the Army), I take offense.  There is NOTHING wrong with his desire.  Maybe his dad or uncle or grandfather or neighbor or a friend of the family did that job.  Maybe he just thinks it would be cool.  Maybe he's just a kid who is, like many kids, fascinated by those things.  Perhaps in your manicured, middle-class world that is unacceptable, but please recognize that not everyone lives in your world.  Please recognize that many people have fought, died, and yes, killed people, so that you could have that viewpoint and express it freely.

You have that right, but in MY classroom, you do NOT have the right to put my students' thoughts and ideas down, even if you don't agree with them.  Because in MY classroom, everyone has a right to say what they think and feel, even when I don't agree with them.  That's because in MY classroom, we are a family- a family I am trying to teach and lead by example to be respectful, thoughtful people who can treat others well even when they don't like what someone else eats, thinks, says, wears, or does.  If the world would be more that way, maybe in the end we wouldn't need soldiers to go off and "kill people" as you put it to my child.