Walking in the Valley A weekly column for those who live and walk in Silicon Valley by Barbara Dahlgren

May the Force Be With Them Column for the week of February 2-8, 2003

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You don’t need to be a genius to see that the State of the Union is not all that good right now. People are still losing their jobs. The economy is low. The stock market is down. Bankruptcies are up. President Bush addressed some of these issues in his State of the Union message last Tuesday night. It’s not his fault, as some would have you believe, that America is in this recession but it is his job to deal with it. Why anyone would want to be president is beyond me? The office always seems to carry a Catch 22 aura with it. That’s why the president, whether democrat or republican, is always on my prayer list.

To add to the frustration it looks like war with Saddam Hussein may be around the corner. War won’t help the economy. It’s expensive. To quote Bush, “It costs a lot to fight this war. We have spent more than a billion dollars a month -- over $30 million a day -- and we must be prepared for future operations.” But to leave a madman in power may cost us much more in the long run.

War is such an ominous word and never a popular decision. Gone are the days when a president can declare war and expect to have the country rally around him. We can thank Viet Nam for that. Something happened with that war to change the way Americans react. They felt betrayed and are now unable to accept the idea that those in power have their best interest in mind. When the troops came home from World War 1 and World War 11, they were welcomed with open, loving arms. When the troops came home from Viet Nam, they were spat upon. At the beginning of the war those who fled to Canada and burned their draft cards were looked down upon and those who fought were the heroes. At the end, it was just the opposite.

Whatever lies ahead, I hope we can support our troops. These young men and women are caught between the proverbial rock and the hard place. They have a thankless job to do. They don’t make the decisions but they fight the wars. They stand on watch and say, “I will keep you safe tonight. No one will hurt you while I am on my post. I will fight so you can keep your freedom. I am willing to make that sacrifice. There are some things in this world that are more important than you or me.” The question is, do those of us who aren’t willing to make that kind of sacrifice appreciate those who do?

Biblical principles seem to indicate that we should pray for those in office. (Ezra 6:10, Psalm 122:6, Hebrews 13: 7.17) I do. But I think I’ll say a little prayer for our troops too. They are just ordinary folks like you and me but they have an extra ordinary job to do. May the “Force be with them!” (And I’m not referring to the Jedi.)

P.S. And while we’re sending up prayers for real heroes, let’s remember the families of those we lost February1 in the Shuttle Columbia. Astronauts are an amazing breed of people who boldly go where none or very few have gone before. The risks are many. The odds of a shuttle accident were 1 in 100,000 before the 1986 Challenger explosion, 1 in 78 after. Who knows what the statistics will be now? But the passion astronauts feel for their calling doesn’t wane regardless of statistics. Yes, let’s pray for the friends and families of Rick Husband, Kalpana, Chawla, William McCool, Michael Anderson, David Brown, Laurel Clark, and Ilan Ramon; and for those who will follow in their footsteps.

©February 2003

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