It would seem all of us men between the ages of 18 and 25 have something to fear these days. No, it’s not colon-rectal cancer. And it’s not bladder control problems.

You probably won’t be surprised to know who discovered this danger looming over us all. You bet—it was those crusaders of freedom—the John Lennon Society.

“Did you know,” the latest JLS literature reads, “the return of the draft is near?”

Look out mother. I have plane tickets to Canada to buy. I’m so scared. I don’t want to get drafted. There’s going to be another Vietnam and I’M NOT GOING!!!! They won’t make me.

It all seems pretty ludicrous, I know, but the JLS seems to be taking it very seriously. They organized a get-together last week to discuss the possibility of the reinstatement of the old selective service act.

The JLS is so serious, in fact, that they encouraged participants in their little forum to “Bring a lunch!” That says something, I suppose.

I can hear it now:

“Say, did you hear that those nasty conservative Republicans want to reinstate the draft? Oh, by the way, Jim, are you going to eat that last Ding-Dong?”

Now, I don’t really believe there is any danger of the draft once again becoming reality. It has been out of commission since 1973, and there has been no real need for it since then.

Sure, there are some areas of the world where we hold political and economic interests, and sure, some of those areas are in a state of unrest.

But somehow, with the large, standing army the country already has along with the many National Guard units available, it would be a while before the government had to dig into the private ranks to support a conflict.

All of this is accentuated by one big IF. There has to be a need for the draft if the draft is to be reinstated.

Sorry to burst any balloons on this one, but the country is really nowhere close to needing a draft.

In fact, the recent talk of reinstating the draft has come from a surprising source—Senate Democrats. Such notables as Ernest Hollings of South Carolina, Sam Nunn of Georgia and Gary Hart of Colorado have expressed an interest in the idea. And the reason they are entertaining the thought is because they want to eliminate the belief that they are weak on national defense.

Plainly, there would be no support for the draft just for the sake of boosting a more macho image for the Democratic party.

So for now, none of us able-bodied men have to worry. We can continue going to school, working or spending our lunch breaks discussing the draft in paranoia. We aren’t going to get drafted.

One thing is frightening, however. If a situation were to arise where a draft would be necessary to protect the country, why would there be any resistance?

There is no reason for anyone who lives here to be afraid or apprehensive about defending our soil. Or for that matter, our interests on other soils.

We haven’t gotten where we are today on the backs of people afraid to defend the American way. Throughout the history of the country, American citizens have given their lives to maintain or benefit their nation. And that’s the way it should be.

This is reason enough to question why the JLS has to go around trying to raise resistance to anything that is or would be, in reality, to the benefit of the country.

It’s too bad that anyone would consider avoiding the draft, should it be necessitated. But I suppose there are some out there who would argue against war for any reason. Those people have to look at reality and realize that war happens.

Then they must decide which would be better for them—being passive at the risk of losing everything or going down fighting for their country.