A Soldier in the Making?

Even before the events of Sept. 11th, Joshua has been obsessed with what he calls "Army Stuff". Camaflouge is his friend. Army green is his friend. And yes, his guns are his friends. No, that doesn't worry me. Jeff and I have been adament about teaching him gun safety. He has a respect for the real weapons they are and the destruction they can do. And his friendship with his "Army gun" is more about the fact that it represents Army or Army policemen than the fact that it's a gun.

Joshua's take on the tragedy of Sept. 11th is that the bad guys killed us because they want our freedom. He intelligently told me that "Even if they kill all of us, they still won't have our freedom." At 5, his comprehension of the state of our country is pretty accurate. He doesn't really get it, but he understands that freedom is something to be proud of. Freedom is something people died for, and something that people WILL die for. Funny that he knows that when I'm positive he doesn't even really understand what freedom is. YK?

At any rate ... standing on the arm of the couch (where he shouldn't be and has been told so 100's of times) Josh proclaimed, "i'm going to kill all the bad guys." I'm still not sure what to think of that proclaimation. He then proceeded to ask how old you have to be to be in the Army. Josh couldn't even comprehend how long 13 years is. He also said he really doesn't want to join because he doesn't want to be killed. Then he reminded me that if you join the Army you have to shave your head. And that he'd join if he could be a leader that stays at the base. If only it were that simple of a choice.

That's a lot of complicated stuff for such a young mind to think of. Things I'm sure he had no idea about until 12 days ago. I hope by the time he's registering for the draft he'll be at peace with what it means to serve our country. I have a lot of teaching to do --- God grant me the wisdom to do it.