the art of war

i saw one of my first cousins today...he just turned eighteen and recently graduated from high school...in a month he will be in the army and he has never even been on a plane...he is a nice enough fellow, a little naive, his parents are born again christians, but don't talk about it to our family because years ago my father politely (mind you it is unlike my father to be polite) asked them not to...but here he is, thin, gawky, unworldly, to be given a gun and sent forth...the powerful's wet dream...i suppose there is a good portion of the military that is in this predicament...not really sure of the world, or their place in it...he wants to join to help people he says...my father (again with a rare jewel of wisdom) responded..."if you want to help people join the peace corps"...rarely do my father and i agree, much like rarely does anyone get helped at the end of a barrel of a gun...and even my dad, a retired cop, knows that...this entry is not to criticize people and their choices in life, however limited, but it also is not designed to give passes to people that kill whether or not they understand, or believe in the consequences...the world is what it is, but for every act, violent or not, there is a price to be paid...