Week 21: Dear George -- Wood

How do you do it?

By Angela Wood
Colchester High School, Grade 9

Dear Mr. President,

I’m not exactly sure what to say in a letter to someone who has such an effect on all of our lives. You seem so distant, yet every decision you make affects us somehow. I can’t imagine what it is like to have the responsibility of a nation on your shoulders. You work as hard as any other man, probably harder, and yet the consequences of your choices affect so much more than those of the average worker. How do you do it?

That is the question of this letter. How do you remain calm under all the stress presented to you? How do you remain cool when half the nation is screaming for your impeachment? How do you convince them that your decisions are the right ones -- or do you even try?

When faced with questions on all sides, cornering you, trying to force you to say something -- what do you do? How do you explain your decisions? How can you rationalize the war in Iraq?
I assume that is the topic you are most frequently confronted with. It is certainly the one I hear most about here. I, personally, support the war. All around me, I constantly hear people rant-ing about how we never should have invaded Iraq; that we started this whole mess and we should pull out before any more damage is done. How do you reply to people like this? It seems impossible to be rational with them.

I believe the war in Iraq was necessary. It is not, perhaps, the best outcome, but it was necessary. Saddam Hussein was an unjust dictator who had committed countless crimes and he needed to be removed from power. I know many people have died in the war, but no more than would have had Saddam continued his reign.

From what I have learned, many fewer people have died than if Saddam had continued with what he was doing. But even if this were not so -- even if the same number of people died in either situation -- I still believe it would have been the right thing to go in and take care of Saddam. This has been my belief for some time, but only recently did I finally realize the rationalization behind it.

During the Holocaust, America ignored what was happening in Europe. It denied that it was happening. When Jews on ships were within sight of Florida’s shoreline, and decided to jump off the boat and swim for shore, the Coast Guard was permitted to stop them. Several other incidents involved lack of action on the USA’s part, or inappropriate action in other incidents. Now we look back on this time period in shame. Why did we ignore it? We ask now, as we learn about it. Why did we not do anything? And we have vowed to never let such a thing happen again.

It is to this that I compare the Iraq war. Religious groups against Saddam were murdered by him. America became informed of this, and under your rule, we did something about it. We knew it would most likely result in the deaths of hundreds, indeed, thousands. We were aware of the imminent consequences. But we went in anyway. We removed Saddam from power and tried to set up a new government. Yes, many lives were lost. Yes, many lives are still being taken.

But at least we did something. It is better to lose 100 lives in an attempt to make life better in a country than to sit by and let those same 100 lives be taken by a cruel dictator. It is better to know that whatever the result, we have at least tried to help.

People call this war a mistake. They say that when it is over, we will be telling ourselves to learn from this mistake. But in reality, is this war not a demonstration of how we have learned from our past mistakes? We made a mistake during the Holocaust and now, in a similar situation on perhaps a smaller scale, we are remembering that and doing better. I believe, for this reason, that the war is, while not ideal, the best possible situation.

There are dozens of other topics that I could cover in depth, but that would result in a rather long and perhaps tedious letter. As it is already perhaps longer than it should be, I will close with this: I wish to say thank you. Thank you for making the decisions you believe will be best. Thank you for making them in spite of what might be popular belief. Thank you, in short, for taking the responsibility of our country upon your shoulders and doing your best.

Your humble citizen,
Angela Wood