Who has the most to lose?

“Last year when he was 18, he was an Eagle Scout, this year at 19 he is an expert marksman in the Army. Who’s watching the transition of America’s best and brightest? Mothers are. Last year a prom date was the most important thing in his life, this year it’s letters from home. He always thought white picket fences were in his future, now it’s white phosphorous hand grenades. Who’s keeping score of the dreams?. Mothers are. A job at the factory was a given now it’s a wish. A future seemed certain, now it is doubt. Who watches for the outcome? Mothers do. Wars are waged by youth, but Mothers have the most to lose.”

July 2000 Terry M Fauquher

When children are born, Mothers begin their lives with hope. After World War Two, babies were being born in record numbers. Hope and optimism was in the air. During the Fifties, while those babies were growing up, America was experiencing unbridled prosperity. In 1960, a 43 year old , sandy haired youth with a million dollar smile, became President of the United States. Mothers were beginning to sense that their children were going to have a much better life than their own. The dream in most households was a better education for their children than they were able to obtain. More and more homes had a car and a garage. The new interstate system was beginning to take shape and vacations by automobile were now becoming a reality. Davy Crockett was the new hero for young men and his exploits were being delivered into living rooms by this new fangled contraption called television. Outdoor Bar-B-Que ovens were the new rage for everyone’s back yard. America was smiling.

Then, on November 22 1963, the new President was assassinated and almost overnight the dreams began to die. Hope was no longer in the air. Within a matter of months, American combat troops were landing in Vietnam. Now in an instant, the dreams that most Mothers had allowed themselves to accumulate, began to vanish. In their place, the old nagging fears that they had grown up with, returned to haunt their thoughts. Their sons, their first-borns, were now being solicited to register for selective service and for the first time in a long time, it came with consequence.

Fathers still went off to work every day and continued their lives. Mothers, by and large, were left at home to worry. They had experienced World War Two and they knew what was coming next. And then, there it was, the scroll of names on the nightly news broadcasts, the eighteen and nineteen year-olds who would never hold their Mothers hand again.

Mothers were worried this would happen and they were left to grieve as the relentless political excuses demanded more cannon fodder for the war machine.

Before any young person is sent to war, the individual in charge should be made to look a Mother in the eye and ask permission. Clearly it’s the Mothers that have the most Lose.