BRING THEM HOME

I’m a teacher not a politician.  I have never been to war

And I can’t imagine the atrocities occurring in countries far from America’s shore.

But I’m tired of American soldiers being sent by boat and plane

To fight for causes our own politicians find difficult to explain.

I’m tired of the bloodshed and resources this country expends

When it causes our soldiers, our children, to die far from their family and friends.

(I’ve often wondered if only the leaders children were the ones to fight a war

Perhaps they’d solve their differences without fighting anymore.)

And I can’t help but wonder about the millions of dollars we spend every day

To assist in bettering countries where people hate us anyway.

And how can we find horrors in one country, that justify a war

While similar horrors in another country we totally ignore?

When I was growing up I stood proud with my parents to see our flag unfurled

We believed at that time the United States should help police the world.

But the world has changed in spite of us and it makes me kind of sad

For now it’s much more difficult to tell the good guys from the bad.

So we have to stop sending our armies in places they don’t belong

To me, that doesn’t make us weak...it shows that we are strong.

Strong enough to fight our own battles and try hard to defeat

The poverty and violence that occur on our own streets.

Strong enough to take that money and spend it now, forsooth

On the health and education of our children and our youth.

Strong enough to help our people so that when they fall sick or ill

They won’t lose their house or pension to pay their medical bills.

I’m not sure how we can ever combat the evils man creates

But I don’t think America anymore should be the one who mediates...

I think it’s time we look at the places where our soldiers and power roam

And I think it’s time we say, “Fix Yourselves!” and bring our children home.

I do not take this fighting lightly I pray that someday it will cease

And I pray the world would spend less time waging war and more time waging peace.