I was listening to the radio this morning and they were talking to mommies and daddies whose sons have just died in a war that the United States is fighting. The country who we are fighting is called Iraq, and it is far away, near Israel. The man who is the president of Iraq is really mean and not nice to the people who live there. It is a little like the way the King of England wasn't nice to the people living in America and we had the revolutionary war. Remember the No More Kings song on Schoolhouse Rock.
No More Kings
Rockin' and a-rollin',
Splishin' and a-splashin'
Over the horizon,
What can it be?
The pilgrims sailed the sea
to find a place to call their own.
In their ship Mayflower,
They hoped to find a better home.
They finally knocked on Plymouth Rock
And someone said, "We're there!
It may not look like home,
But at this point I don't care."
Oh, they were missin' Mother England
They swore their loyalty until the very end.
"Anything you say king, it's okay king,
You know it's kind of scary on your own.
Gonna build a new land the way we planned
Could you help us run it till it's grown?"
They planted corn you know,
They built their houses one by one.
And bit by bit they worked
Until the colonies were done.
They looked around, yeah, up and down,
And someone said, "Hurray!
If the king could only see us now,
He would be proud of us today."
They knew that now they'd run their own land,
But George the Third still vowed
He'd rule them till the end.
"Anything I say, do it my way now,
Anything I say do it my way.
Don't you get to feelin' independent,
Cause I'm gonna force you to obey."
He taxed their property,
He didn't give them any choice.
And back in England,
He didn't give them any voice.
{That's called taxation without representation, and it's not fair.}
But when the colonies complained,
The king said, "I don't care!"
"He even has the nerve to tax our cup of tea!
To put it kindly king, we really don't agree.
Gonna show you how we feel,
We're gonna dump this tea...
And turn this harbor into
The biggest cup of tea in history!"
They wanted no more Mother England.
They knew the time had come for them to take command.
"It's very clear you're being unfair, king,
No matter what you say we won't obey.
Gonna hold a revolution now, king,
And we're gonna run it all our way!"
With no more kings...
{We're gonna elect a president!}
No more kings...
{He's gonna do what the people want!}
No more kings...
{We're gonna run things our way!}
No more kings...
{No one's gonna tell us what to do!}
No more kings!
Rockin' and a-rollin',
Splishin' and a-splashin'
Over the horizon,
what could it be?
Looks like it's going to be
A free country.
Oh man, it was so much fun singing Schoolhouse Rock songs in the car with you on the way to and from school. I think Multiplication Rock was our favorite; I know it is Jack's.
Well, listening to the radio in the car this morning wasn't fun, it was really sad. I am sorry for all those families. I thought of you. I am glad you never had to die in a war, though you died fighting and you died a hero. The mommies and daddies whose kids die in war don't really get to say goodbye. And they must worry that their sons weren't comfortable when they died. I am glad Mommy and I were able to hold you when you died.
I worry about the nice soldiers who showed you this helicopter. They probably are at war now. I hope the war ends soon and no more kids have to die on the hard ground and not in the arms of their mommies and daddies.
I love you Henry.
Dad
No comments:
Post a Comment