One benefit of becoming a senior citizen who’s currently over 60 is having a stock pile of mentally recorded information. In the old days, we had to rely on newspapers for historical accounts of our past events. Today we not only have the internet for instant postings and updates but there’s also live television. We no longer have to rely on the opinions of a few biased reporters. Today we can see exactly what’s happening. We can now base our decisions on what we see and not just what we’re told. Don’t believe what I say, believe what you see.

Watch
If you’ve ever been in a fight with fist or weapons, you know the difference between a verbal fight and a physical fight. Verbal fights with words happen everyday all over the world. This might be anything from trash talking over a sporting event, arguing with your spouse to marketing strategies between businesses. Watching a verbal fight might include cheering, hoping, protesting or supplying food & blankets to one side or the other. In a verbal fight, some or all of these things might be helpful to the participants. When it’s over they might be happy or sad but they live on to have another verbal fight of words on another day.

Physical fights are another matter. You can’t predict or guarantee the outcome when fist are flying or when weapons are engaged. Even on the school yard with children, sometimes kids die during or after a physical fight. Watching this kind of fight won’t prevent bad things from happening. Cheering, hoping, protesting or supplying food & blankets don’t stop the fist in motion or the weapons. In a war, real people will die while our leaders watch. Maybe you’ll feel better knowing that our leaders cheered, protested, hoped or sent supplies but bodies will keep stacking up. Currently our United States leaders are just watching.

Run
When war crimes are in progress or United States security is threatened, our leaders always have options. Leaders have the option to fight, run, withdraw, quit, declare the end a success or say whatever sounds good. Implementing the option to run/ quit like we did in Afghanistan, historically always comes with unfavorable consequences. Innocent people get killed, evil takes command or kills the remaining population and increases their future fighting force. Last but not least, the quitters lose the respect and often physical fighting support of our allies in the future. Smart leaders are hesitant to go on the battlefield again relying on a known quitter for backup. Would you trust a quitter?