No Man Is An Island

"Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends." - John 15:13 NASB

This morning, ABC News' Chris Cuomo was traveling with our troops and they were hit by a roadside bomb. There were no injuries, but that isn't always the case. Unfortunately, war has side effects of death and injury to so many, but sometimes there isn't any other way to stop humans from mistreating other human beings.

I'm not a particularly political person, and don't ask me which party I associate myself with, because I don't. I try to look at each individual candidate and make my voting decisions based on what they represent. And while I'm not in favor of war in general, I also realize there are times that it's necessary to bring about needed change.

This war in Iraq is not a popular war, but in my lifetime, I don't think any war has ever been popular. President Bush has had to make some hard decisions during his two terms in office and while it's easy to criticize him, the alternative choices weren't a whole lot better - both those that make the decisions and the decisions themselves.

I have a simplistic view of this Iraq situation. I can still remember how the country felt when we were attacked on September 11, 2001. And while this may have been the impetus that got the ball rolling toward the Iraq war, there were other factors that entered into our actions there. The United Nations was not effective in getting Saddam Hussein to comply with its directives, and he was like a child who knows he can manipulate his parents to escape consequences of misbehavior.

Whether we were misled as a nation as to the reasons for entering Iraq, to me is irrelevant. The fact is, Saddam was not complying with the requests of the U.N. and he was a ruthless dictator. Yes, it was his country and many feel that we should have stayed out of their business, but when human beings are tortured and killed as he did to his own people, it is our business.

We are all human beings living on this planet Earth. I believe we will be held accountable to God for how we treat each other. If we have an opportunity to help others and we don't do it, we will answer for that. The United States is considered to be the most powerful nation in the world, and if we have the means to come to the aid of others, especially when it means their very lives, then I feel we have an obligation to do so. It has nothing to do with oil or money or who owns what; it has to do with compassion and love for our fellow man.

Our neighbor has served in Iraq twice. In speaking to him and others who have served there, it is clear to me that their motivation in doing what they do is for the Iraqi people. As one soldier said of his time in Iraq, "I don't do what I do so that Americans can live free. I do it so others can live free like we do." May God bless them for that.

I don't have a family member or loved one serving in the military and maybe if I did, I would have a different view of things. I hope we can leave Iraq soon, and that their people can defend their freedoms for themselves. It's a tough situation and there isn't an easy answer, but for now, I think we have done a great thing for those people. I'm told there are many in Iraq that have expressed their gratitude to our soldiers and I hope our soldiers know in their hearts that they saved far more lives than they may have taken.

"No man is an island, entire of itself..." - John Donne

I put out five more wintersown jugs today:

• Larkspur Mixed
  
• Malva 'Magic'
• Shirley Poppy
• Chinese Forget-Me-Not
• Butterfly Weed