The story behind Another Mother's Child

The story behind Another Mother’s Child is a story of elitism, hypocrisy, and privilege. It’s a story about two women, both of whom I’ve known personally. The first is an upper-middle class white housewife who has two young sons and who is a staunch supporter of the war in Iraq, even to this day. I wasn’t at the party that’s mentioned in my song, but someone related the details to me who was there. The subject of the war came up, and this person said to the housewife something to the effect that she could send her boys to war. The housewife’s reply was if they were drafted she would move her family to Canada, and that the soldiers who signed up knew what they were getting into. This, to me, speaks volumes of the hypocrisy of the well-to-do in this country, and the privilege that they feel for themselves. Others—the children of other mothers—not only can die, but should die so they can keep their standards of living, lifestyles, safety, and peace of mind.

The other person actually served in the Army—the 1st Army, the Big Red One—during peacetime during the Reagan administration. She’s now a middle-aged white woman who served as a communications specialist sitting in one of those trailers doing God-knows-what—turning knobs and hacking out Morse code, I suppose. Anyway, during one drill when it was assumed that the Russians were going to attack it dawned on her that the enemy keys in on radio signals and communication people are the first to die. Basically, communication signals act as a homing device for missiles, throwing up a flag that says, hey, I’m over here. Her story, the way she told it to me, was that she got a transfer back to the States to serve her country as, I’m not kidding, a court reporter. Now that’s laying your life on the line, isn’t it? Hanging around lawyers. Anyway, whenever I think of this story I can’t help but think of the idealistic men and women who don’t go in for a transfer, don’t run, and are killed or maimed physically or mentally in the pursuit of their beliefs and fulfilling the obligation that they swore they'd do. It doesn’t matter if you believe in what they believe in. What’s at stake here is something sort of sacred to human existence.

But still, in a true Darwinian way, I wonder who is right. Maybe the two women, who are so selfish, actually are the better of the species. They’ll live, survive, even thrive thinking of themselves, and in turn, pass that behavior along to their offspring.

Death tally

32 dead in Virginia.

Baghdad bomb kills 166.

The thing is, and I'm not desecrating the deaths in Virginia, but there's a good chance no one will die in Virginia today, but lots will die in Baghdad. And we'll still be reading about Virginia tomorrow, and asking why, and wondering how.

The United States is so insular. We are in our own little bubble, seemingly not knowing or caring that there's a whole 'nohter world out there...and if we were a little more attuned to it, maybe less of what happened in Virginia will happen again, or maybe we'll just be able to wrap our minds around it a little better, or maybe we'll do what we can to make the killing stop everywhere.

The entitled white upper-middle class

A friend of mine still vehemently supports the war in Iraq, saying Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. Okay, we won't even argue that one, but...

...she has two sons, and when asked if she would support a draft, she said if her sons were drafted they'd move to Canada. Her reasoning? The American soldiers in Iraq knew what they were getting into when they signed up.

The majority of the personnel in our armed forces are poor and people of color. And my well-to-do white friend is saying that their lives are less valuable than her children's lives, and they should lay down their lives to protect her two gorgeous little white angels.

And that, my friends, is the self-centered, entitled, white upper-middle class shouting from the mountaintops.

Five years of war

The U.S. is entering its fifth year of war in Iraq. According to IraqBodyCount.org, at least 59,287 Iraqi civilians have been killed. More than 3,200 U.S. troops have been killed, too.

The human, economic, and political toll is astounding. Appalling.