That’s all we can do

Last evening I was sitting on the patio with a friend enjoying a cup of coffee and listening to an oldies channel in the radio. When the next song began playing both of us began to mouth the worlds along with its chorus and we both laughed. Strange, how a song back in the 1960’s can be even more poignant when heard now, the words went like this,

The Eastern WorldIt is explodin'
Violence flarin'
Bullets loadin'
You're old enough to kill
But not for votin'
You don't believe in war
But what's that gun you're totin'
And even the Jordan River has bodies floatin'
But you tell me over, and over, and over again my friend
Ah, you don't believe we're on the eve of destruction

Those few words from the song, The Eve of Destruction, written by P. F. Sloan described the mind set of our generation during those turbulent years and the people’s view on a war nobody wanted or cared about, that is everyone except the men fighting for their country a few thousand miles away and that was the problem, they cared, they wanted to win, the people did not. When news of the people’s views, the demonstrations and protest reached the shores of Viet Nam it found America’s sons could not understand why people hated them.

Today we fight a war in Iraq and Afghanistan, our allies are in a war in Lebanon against another enemy, the Hezbollah, at the same time we have two large countries showing their nuclear might against America, Iran and North Korea and where this present course will lead to is anyone’s best guess.

All we can do is support the men and women who are presently serving their country and putting their lives on the line every day of the week. We must have hope the rest of the world falls into political place long before someone gets ticked off and pushes a button that sends nuclear missiles flying to another country. That is all we can do.