When I was a boy my inconceivably Catholic mother used to tell me, "Offer your pain to God. Give Him your suffering as a gift of love and proof of your devotion. It seems funny to me now that I seem to equate love with suffering.

"War is hell!" Ulysses S. Grant. Most people think war is cruel and unusual. It is. More so for those that must fight it. We have always had war, win lose or draw, war must be fought. Those that will not fight will always lose, take for instance our own indigenous Americans. Native Americans who were fooled by the seemingly friendly white folks that came from across the oceans. In hind sight, if they would have fought off all newcomers, they would have won and kept their sacred lands.

It is not a matter of should we fight or not. Weakness will be rewarded by terror, and defeat. While the democratic Greeks pondered and argued whether or not they should fight the Romans, the Romans took them as slaves. We are not so civilized that we will not pick up sword or gun to defend ourselves. Our land has not been completely ravished only because we did fight back.

I'm not saying to sign up and fight. What I am saying is respect the pain and suffering that other Americans will endure for you. Realize that to some people in this world the option to say that they don't agree with a war is grounds for beheading and even worse, the killing of their entire family. Know that for your rights and your pursuit of happiness, others will suffer and die.

War is hell.

Salvador F. Ramirez
USMC US Army