Real Heroes

American military men and women who put their life on the line to make sure you and I have the freedoms that we do are the best examples of real life heroes I could ever think of.

To those of you who are opposed to the military, I have a question for you: Have you ever sat down and talked with someone who has just come back from a tour in the Middle East? I have. There are many Iraqi citizens who regularly approach OUR AMERICAN TROOPS and profusely THANK them for caring enough to help them learn how to stand up for themselves, for taking the time to train them properly for effective law enforcement, for providing them with a way to earn money and feed their families through work that does not require them to set bombs or kill innocent people.

If you are not humanitarian enough for that to touch your heart and understand we are doing the right thing, I propose this scenario. A lackey for a gang-banger comes to your house and punches you in the face and threatens you, your family, and your neighborhood. He returns to his neighborhood. Are you going to sit there waiting for him to come back after you and your family and give him the chance to do something worse? Or are you going to go to gather your neighborhood watch and take a trip to his neighborhood and fight him there? It will not be your windows shot out, it will not be your children caught in the crossfire, it will not be your neighborhood damaged if you go over to his neighborhood. Now, you are in his neighborhood going door to door looking for these thugs behind this attack. Some of the people in the neighborhood are too afraid to talk or help you. While others, are grateful that you are there and request you help them make their neighborhood better. Would you stay and help them even if you were having difficulty finding the thugs?

Also, a similar yet more simple scenario for those of you who are still not convinced. You go to another neighborhood, knock on someone’s door and punch them in the face. They know where you live. Are you going to stay in their neighborhood and keep the mess away from your own family and neighbors or are you going to go back home, where they know they can find you, and wait for their attack knowing they will come after your family?

It is those men and women who say I will not let them come for my family who are over in Iraq, fighting to make sure we stay safe. They put their lives on the line for you. Mortar attacks, I.E.D. (improvised explosive device) attacks, etc. They loose their brothers, sisters, their lives. They offer this to you so you do not have to loose yours. Then, they come back and are told they are in the wrong, they are not supported yet still hold their heads high and say I will continue to protect you. They affect every single person’s life daily and long term to make sure war does not occur where the most damage will truly be done, on our own soil. Where our children, our economy, our way of life would be damaged the most by having the war on American soil.

If they are not heroes, I do not know what a hero is.