With so much violence in the world today, it would seem that Americans would get closer to each other. I thought family life would be stronger than ever and all Americans would unite to fight terrorism.

How wrong was I.

As I was reading the Chicago Tribune online edition, I stumbled across a very disturbing story that made me feel very uneasy. The story, by Kirsten Scharnberg, talks about a couple that is charged with first-degree murder for beating their 12-year-old daughter to death over a lost jacket.

The couple decided to go out, but could not find the wife’s jacket. The father then got a 57-inch-long extension cord and beat his 8-year-old son four to five times. The father then started to whip his 12-year-old daughter, but she was moving around. So the father ordered her teenage brothers to tie her to a futon. The parents then took turns beating their daughter on the back.

After several minutes, the father had his daughter stripped down and turned around. He then beat the girl in the torso area several times. Then the parents had their other five children take the daughter downstairs. Their children attempted to clean the girl’s wounds and had her lie down.

About an hour later they found the girl unresponsive.

This story is so disturbing that it made me think about the war that we are facing as Americans and the freedoms that we take for granted each day.

I could only imagine what this girl was thinking when this was happening to her. Somehow, these thoughts have to be similar to those of the people who fight in any war. I know that they would have to have thoughts about death and about how they would rather be somewhere else.

But for the good of their country, they pushed aside their freedoms. They gave up everything they had to fight in a war so their children’s children still could have these freedoms.

I hold these freedoms dear to me, yet I don’t think that many other people realize what it would be like give up these freedoms.

Almost all of these freedoms could be taken away from us in an instant in the future because of the war that America faces. But most people don’t understand fully what is going on in the world unless it directly affects them.

Take World War II into consideration. During this time, America was in a war, and everyone in the country was behind the war. I feel the reason for this was that there was a draft. With the draft, most people in the country knew at least one person fighting in the war, therefore anyone could relate to what was going on. They were willing to sacrifice for the good of their country because they felt that they were helping their loved ones out.

The citizens were also willing to give up certain jobs and certain luxury items in order to get money and supplies to the soldiers fighting in the war.

I am not suggesting that we need to start the draft back up. I am suggesting that Americans need to understand what is going on in the world. We need to unite together to help our country out in any way possible to end this war so we don’t have to give up our freedoms.

We have to realize what it means to be an American and not take out our frustrations on our children. Instead we should show our children that they are lucky to be living in this great country. They will be proud to be here and will want to defend our rights and freedoms in the future.