WAR IS INSANE!

I recently traveled to Mexico City on business.  Lucky for me I didn't have to endure an invasive search while going through airport security.  Just your regular walk through detector.  But my carry on bag was held for inspection.  The TSA agent took out my jar of cold cream.  The jar was bigger than they liked.  And even though I opened it and showed them that the content was very little, it was confiscated.  I thought this was crazy. Absolutely ridiculous and insane.  How much threat is Jergen's Cold Cream to our national security?  But I realized that war is insane.  It will never make sense.  Man hating man enough to kill.  My trip to Mexico City reminded me of how much I love my country.  Don't get me wrong, the people are warm and friendly.  And the food is out of this world.  But it is hard living according to what I am used to.  Just the traffic alone can give you a heart attack.

I don't know if you are old enough to remember a TV commercial that showed 2 opposing armies walking towards each other on a field.  And once they stopped to face each other, out walk the leaders of each army in business suits. They take off their jackets and they start fighting. Just the two of them. A good ol' scuffle. May the best man win.  And now that I remember that commercial, having Jesse Ventura or Arnold Schwarzenegger as elected officials would finally make sense.  See what I mean?  We become insane.

But there is a hard and sad reality to war also.  OUR TROOPS.  Men and women that risk their lives and put their families on hold for us so that we can elect the Jesse's and the Arnold's..  We have the freedom to vote, among other things.  A year after 9/11, my husband and I flew to Las Vegas for his grandmother's 100th birthday.  I encountered 2 soldiers coming back from Iraq. We were standing in line to buy beverages.  My husband told the cashier to charge him for the water bottles that they had picked up.  When the cashier told them what we had done, they walked over to us to say thank you.  I came and hugged them and said, "No, thank you from the bottom of my heart for what you are doing now so that my little boy won't have to do it later." 

DO SOMETHING KIND TODAY IDEA:
It is the holiday season and we can do something so big without spending big.
This is legit.  I checked it out.  http://www.snopes.com/politics/christmas/soldiercards.asp
For the 2010 Holiday Season, the Red Cross and Pitney Bowes are again sponsoring a "Holiday Mail for Heroes" program to distribute holiday cards to service members, a program that encompasses not just troops who are recovering in military hospitals, but also service members stationed throughout the U.S. and abroad, as well as veterans and their families. 
The cards should be addressed to:
Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456.
All cards must be postmarked no later than Friday, December 10, 2010.  Cards postmarked after the deadline will be returned to sender.  This deadline ensures enough time to sort and distribute cards before the holidays.
The Red Cross provides these additional guidelines:
DO
* Include your heartfelt sentiment and sign all cards
* Entitle cards with generic terms such as "Dear Service Member, Family or Veteran"
Limit cards to 15 per person or 50 for school class or business group
*Bundle groups of cards in single, large envelopes.
DON'T
*Send letters, care packages or monetary gifts.
*Include personal information such as home address or email addresses
*Use glitter - excessive amounts can aggravate health issues of wounded recipients.
*Include inserts of any kind as they must be removed in the screening process.

I'm off to buy some cards.

Please submit your comments if you joined me on this idea.