Boots on the Ground

Anyone who has been even semi-conscious during the past few weeks has heard the phrase, “boots on the ground” as talking heads, political leaders, and Joe and Jane Citizen debate the role of the United States regarding Syria. In nearly every interview or discussion I’ve heard about Syria, that phrase has described the hopes of all involved to keep American troops off the ground in that war-torn country.

I take the threat of Syria seriously, but I can’t help it - the phrase “boots on the ground” triggers a song in my mind. “General” Larry Platt sang these now infamous words at an audition for American Idol, and it went viral in 2010. “Pants on the ground, pants on the ground”– how could you possibly forget those lyrical words that warned of the danger of “acting like a fool with your pants on the ground?”

While those who practice the art of sagging may face some challenges in the corporate world, pants on the ground is not the life-threatening image that boots on the ground stirs up in us. The staggering losses of World War II as witnessed by my father and his generation, the body bags of Viet Nam that haunted my teen-age years, and the precisely folded flags at the gravesites of Iraq and Afghanistan casualties in this century are somber reminders of the cost of boots on the ground, and I’m relieved that “no boots on the ground” is the consistent battle cry through the Syrian deliberations.

Once again, the world is not at peace, and the United States is attempting to sort out what it can do about it, what it should do about it, even if that response does not include boots on the ground. It’s a complicated question for sure. Why get involved in a country that has an unstable history and one of the worst records regarding human rights in the world, and that many Americans can’t even locate on a map?

President Obama strove to answer that question in his speech to the nation on Tuesday night, beginning with these words:  “My fellow Americans, tonight I want to talk to you about Syria -- why it matters, and where we go from here.” Good, I thought. I’ve been so confused by all I’ve heard about this, and I want to understand what is happening. And his next words made sense to me: “But I have resisted calls for military action, because we cannot resolve someone else’s civil war through force, particularly after a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.” I’m with you there, Mr. President.

I listened carefully to him, and to the various discussions around this subject, and I’m still not sure what should happen. While the stakes are high and the atrocities unimaginable, it is on the other side of the world. What should my country do? The words spoken by an ancient man as recorded in the scriptures echo in my mind as well. Perhaps not quite in context, but I must ask: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen. 4:9). President Obama said it this way: “What kind of world will we live in if the United States of America sees a dictator brazenly violate international law with poison gas, and we choose to look the other way?”

Whether it’s one thousand Syrian men, women, and children in 2013, six million men, women, and children who perished in the Holocaust, or, closer to home, one abused child, one victim of a drunk driver, or one playground bully, the answer remains the same: yes, I am my brother’s – and sister’s – keeper. We are deeply disturbed by the images of refugees pouring out of Syria, and we mourn the deaths of our brothers and sisters in what seems to be a senseless civil war. Unlike the atrocities committed in the Holocaust, we can no longer claim that we didn’t know.

Mr. Obama has taken some heat for calling the United States exceptional in its willingness to act to right at least some of the wrongs around the world. I’m not sure we’re all that exceptional, Mr. President. Somehow, I just want to believe that we are human.