"To Arms, To Arms! To The Bridge!"

Or something like that. As a kid I had a record of the Disney version of The Hobbit which I listened to almost every day. I remember that when Smog attacks the Lakemen's village under the Lonely Mountain, they shout a line similar to my title. All of this, naturally, caused me to grow up and become a scary war hawk . . . er, not. The problems in the world today reminded me of Smog, actually.

Let's say that Smog the dragon is representative of war. This is only for analysis sake, it is not my belief that Tolkien made this anology in his book, himself. Smog mostly hid up in his cave and took things from people. Which is how wars are these days. They are not overblown, they stay in one place mainly and devestate a few people of the area. We call them "conflicts," and attempt to have "ceasefires." A ceasefire to Smog would probably include giving him some more gold and he'd hold still for a few months or something. Perhaps his state of existence was a ceasefire. However, someone does something to provoke Smog. Bilbo steals a cup. Just as something has been done to provoke real war in our day and age. You can call the provocation what you like. I prefer to think of it as the continuing attacks on freedom and Western culture beginning with 9/11 and even before that. What does Smog (i.e. war, not terrorists, don't get confused, peoples) do when provoked? He barrels out of his cave in the mountain and attacks the nearest people, who, oddly enough, were not the ones who bothered his semi-sleeping state. Think of that as the fact that war affects the people who wanted peace the most. That would be us Westerners, we like peace and ceasefires. We even pretend they're the same thing sometimes.

What do the people do to defend themselves from Smog? Well, they hide in their houses and talk about peace, civilian casualties and ceasefires until they're all burnt to little crisps. No, they fight that war until they win the immediate battle. Then, when the war gets bigger and starts to encompass more people, they ally with others and fight against the enemy of freedom and justice.

Am I suggesting we charge into the Middle East and make this war bigger? Well, in a round about way, I am. However, I hope that this time we will pause to bring our allies back together or allow them to realize the consequences of avoiding the fight. The enemies of freedom cannot be bought off or appeased. They must be fought. I certainly hope it will not take the loss of millions for the world to realize who those enemies actually are. Radical Islamofascism is growing at a frightening pace, terrorist organizations gain people by the day. They are not losing their strength. They do not have to declare their weaponry. We cannot hide from this war, or think that a mere ceasefire will end it. It must be faced and fought.