Just my two cents' worth

By Claire J. Karnes

This had to be the most beautiful evening I have ever seen. The sky was clear and starlit and the full moon lit up our yard like the noonday sun. As I looked around, I could hear snap, crackle, pop -- the unmistakable sounds of spring. It was the crackling of the new flowers climbing up through the ground and the pop of the new buds on the trees. The crickets or frogs chirping gave me an overwhelming sense of peace.

At a time of war, peace.

All around me there was no sound other than those of springtime coming to life , no sounds of bombs or gunfire, just a pure, serene evening in March. Peace.

I know this is one of the few places in the world that has not heard bombs or air-raid sirens going off in the night. We have a luxury that not too many have. Peace.

Peace is what we know. Even during wartime, I have a sense of peace that we will be safe in our homes and neighborhood. And as I pondered the evening and its serenity, I came to the realization that this is what we are fighting for. Peace.

When our peace is threatened, we become defensive. Sometimes a potential threat to that peace can be more frightening than an actual deed. What if your personal space and family were threatened? The potential for someone or thing to cause me or my family harm gets right under my skin, and I can imagine myself fighting to the death to protect them, like Rambo or Arnold in the movies.

What would Elizabeth Smart's parents have done had they known the potential existed for the handyman they hired to kidnap their daughter? Would they have notified the authorities that the potential was there? Based on what? A gut feeling? Would that do it? Of course not -- the authorities couldn't do anything without proof -- or the action already taking place.

I have heard so many stories of battered wives who call the police, who can't do anything without proof. And what happens? When something does happen, all the neighbors talk about how they all knew he would kill her someday and the police did nothing.

What would have been done had we thought the terrorists had the potential to take out our financial infrastructure on Sept. 11, 2001, and leave our entire country awestruck? What if the country we call home hadn't come together to support the families who were directly affected be the heinous act?

What happened to the unity that we all felt not so many months ago? Isn't this the United States of America? What if we didn't attack Iraq? What if Iraq launched scud missiles at its neighbors? What if terrorists took prisoners in this country? What if Iraq launched an ICBM at the United States? Would we hear the neighbors say, "We knew he would do something one day, and our government didn't do anything about it"? I thank God that our government is at the very least trying to prevent the potential from becoming a reality.

Regardless of social causes or political beliefs, I feel our country should stand united against our enemies, potential or realized. I am sad at the way our country has split. We will lose fathers, sons, nephews, uncles, brothers, sisters, mothers, daughters, nieces -- and they will fight for what they believe is right. Why can't we let go of the animosity of political and social causes and support our troops by supporting their government and stand up united?

I am proud to call myself an American.

Claire J. Karnes of Cape Girardeau is a registered nurse and executive vice president of Pyramid Clinical Services.