Lincoln-Douglass and Georgia on my mind…

When Becky, HG, and I talk about our education, we have a primary difference… they were honors students, and I was not. So, back in “normal kid” 11th Grade Social Science, my teacher tried to teach us how to care about foreign policy and Lincoln-Douglass debate at the same time. The over-riding issue of the day was the Bosnian war. We could take one of four positions: “I believe the US should get involved,” “I believe the US should stay out,” “I think we should care about what happens in Bosnia (no statement of involvement),” and “I don’t think we should care about what happens in Bosnia.” As no one else was taking the apathetic side, I thought, “Why not?” So, I argued for apathy.

Now, since we currently have no mission in Georgia, I want to ask a question: Why should we get involved? Now certainly, I’m not going to argue for apathy as we certainly must show Christian compassion towards our fellow humans. The question is not regarding compassion. To rephrase the question: Convince me that my husband’s life is worth getting in a war with Russia.

Further, in particular, men under forty, if we should get into a war with Russia (which would eventually require us to defend our homeland AT HOME), why are you not in the military. I don’t really want answers to that question in the comments; rather, I am asking those who read my blog to engage in this periodic examination of belief. I certainly understand the concept of “vocation,” that it is my husband’s vocation to be in the military, that it is not the vocation of others to be in the military. However, getting involved with Russia is a different issue then Iraq as we will eventually have to defend ourselves locally. Want your kid to grow up with air raids? I don’t.

At any rate, intervening on Georgia’s behalf, though the first reaction is “Let’s go,” requires some serious thought before we invest our capital and blood.