Blog Post #11

For this week's post I decided to talk about kid soldiers in other countries and compare it to the lives of kids here in the United States. I found an article on The Washington Post that talked about how on Veterans Day many children that have parents in the military are grateful.  Having parents in the military is a sacrifice that the children and parents have to live with because they live for months, even years without seeing each other only through video chat. Americans, especially the youth, do not take advantage of the fact that we are not forced to fight the wars of this country. In other countries, like in the book we are reading, children are taken from there families to fight wars. If they are boys they have to fight, if they are girls they are taken to cook or satisfy the men. In developed countries like the U.S we don't have to worry about this happening because we have a choice to either join or not. "About 2.5 million men and women serve in the U.S. military right now" (McLaughlin) These people have chosen to fight for this country so we are not forced to. They risk there lives to protect this country and inhabitants. People should be more thankful to the souls that decide to do this because some have families that they do not for see for years. Having the privilege to choose rather than be forced is something not all countries have.

McLaughlin, Moira. "Veterans Day Lets Us Recognize Sacrifices of Children with Parents in the Military." Washington Post. 8 Nov. 2012. Web. 14 Nov. 2012. <http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/kidspost/veterans-day-lets-us-recognize-sacrifices-of-children-with-parents-in-the-military/2012/11/08/148b1c80-22c7-11e2-bdfa-eebc58545bc7_story.html>.