A Day in the Life

Trey Smith

It's a typical Spring day. You and your husband decide to treat the kids to a picnic at a park some distance from your home. You pack the food, beverages, picnic supplies, frisbees, binoculars, walking shoes and dog in the car. With warm temperatures and sunny skies in the forecast, this looks to be a swell outing.

As you drive down the highway, your 8 year old suggests a family sing-a-long to pass the miles away. After the umpteenth version of Row, Row, Row Your Boat, you pull into the picturesque park. You select a picnic area near a meadow.

As the kids and dog clamor out of the car, you and your husband, holding hands like the high school sweethearts you use to be, marvel at the enthusiasm shown by your children. Your husband pulls you into his arms and plants a big wet one on you! You both murmur, "I love ya, babe."

As the afternoon unwinds, you enjoy the company of your family. You eat and laugh and eat and laugh some more. You think to yourself, "Today is perfect."

All of a sudden, you hear a sound that you can't readily identify. It's loud and piercing. Before you have time to figure out what it might be, the meadow explodes in a ball of flames. You hear one of your children shrieking, but amidst the smoke and debris, you can't make anything out.

Dazed, you realize that blood is trickling down your face. What in the hell just happened, you scream. As the smoke dissipates, you see three lifeless bodies (or what's left of them) in what a few minutes before was a vibrant meadow. Then you notice that your beloved husband, a few feet to your right, is writhing in agony and, oh my gosh, he's missing his left leg below the knee.

It is only later -- after you've buried some of your children -- that you learn you were the victims of a drone attack.

While the particulars of the scores innocent civilians killed by drones may be dissimilar -- many were at work in their fields, sleeping in their beds or attending a wedding or a funeral -- some may have lost their lives picnicking at a park. The point of this little story is to help you to put yourself in THEIR shoes -- to think what your reaction might be if you were going about your everyday life and, out of nowhere, everything fell apart in the blink of an eye.

Do you think you would think kindly of the US government? Do you think you would appreciate hearing news reports that American officials claimed that the drone attack that killed your husband and children was necessary to stomp out terrorism?

While some individuals might be willing to turn the other cheek, so to speak, far more will develop a burning desire to seek revenge. This desire for vengeance would be even more pronounced if you became aware that other families had suffered the same fate as yours and American leaders continually expressed a callous disregard for your suffering and anguish.

To my way of thinking, this is how the US government PURPOSELY creates an endless stream of "terrorists." By treating the lives of ordinary people as expendable pawns in this Machiavellian "war on terror," every drone attack on innocent civilians -- people not unlike you and me -- generates an untold amount of animus directed toward us.

As long as we can create people who revile us for our inhumanity, the so-called "war on terror" will continue on unabated.