Changing RolesEssay Preview: Changing RolesReport this essayThe contemporary American family is one that shows a picture perfect lifestyle of happiness and normalcy, but this normalcy can be challenged by anything. The present war our country is engaged in is one factor that has changed the lives of many families since it began. Husbands, sons, and sometimes even mothers and daughters are leaving their homes to fight in the war with Iraq. If the traditional American family consists of a husband, wife, and two or more children living in suburbia, my family could once have easily represented it. However, when our country went to war, my dads military-career transferred him thousands of miles across the ocean disrupting almost every aspect of our once, near perfect household.
Changing RolesEssay Preview: Changing RolesReport this essay
The contemporary American family is one that shows a picture perfect lifestyle of happiness and normalcy, but this normalcy can be challenged by anything. The present war our country is engaged in is one factor that has changed the lives of many families since it began. Husbands, sons, and sometimes even mothers and daughters are leaving their homes to fight in the war with Iraq. If the traditional American family consists of a husband, wife, and two or more children living in suburbia, my family could once have easily represented it. However, when our country went to war, my dads military-career transferred him thousands of miles across the ocean disrupting almost every aspect of our once, near perfect household.
In addition to many other factors, the war in Iraq has provided a major change in American life. As we mourn the loss of our nation’s most cherished and most influential military leader, retired Marine General Robert E. Lee Jr., we should start by thinking of our own military and its legacy as a collection of accomplishments that have helped us move forward and give our nation back to greatness. America deserves a stronger role in the world in which we are now living. The war in Iraq was one such example, and our nation’s contribution to this new role was critical to putting our nation and its spirit forward as a strong place. Now is the time to get out to the front lines in making our way back home and, together, that we do so as well as possible.
This is the story of the future in the War on Terror. We will continue to be the driving force behind the peace. But we will be the force that will change it, and change our country and the world. As we have known it, this will take time, patience and, perhaps, determination as we try to reach our goals. The American people have fought and died for this. We will not stop fighting until the rest of the world achieves a more just and compassionate understanding by making our shared decisions that will bring about the changes that our country deserves.
For our generation, the present conflict in Iraq remains on life support. There are a generation of young adults, both parents and siblings, struggling to adjust to this loss of freedom and independence in Afghanistan and Iraq. Those who lost that love were left in isolation for much of their lives. The war in Iraq has left the country with no hope for new families. Our country cannot be defined by the current violence in Libya, nor by the bloodiest conflicts in human history. There is no peace and no way to get there.
It is time to return home, put our country back together, and let the rest of America do its job. The American people deserve a strong role in the world. But we need a bigger role that is not based on a series of failures (in some cases, the failure caused by the previous commander-in-chief) but also on the strength and conviction of the American citizenry and the political will of the American public. The same will be true this time around. When our military is under threat the public is going to vote again, and America would be better able to deliver answers to those who continue to violate our laws or their rights. We need to get it right with the Congress and the American people, we need Congress to protect the troops, and we need our families, to do that.
Changing RolesEssay Preview: Changing RolesReport this essay
The contemporary American family is one that shows a picture perfect lifestyle of happiness and normalcy, but this normalcy can be challenged by anything. The present war our country is engaged in is one factor that has changed the lives of many families since it began. Husbands, sons, and sometimes even mothers and daughters are leaving their homes to fight in the war with Iraq.
As soon as I saw what was happening to my father-wife, my mother was taken at gunpoint into a coma, her father sitting in the corner eating a cake while my sister was taken off her. While I was asleep, my sister’s father finally succumbed to their abuse and went in for treatment for minor bruising and her brother died of shock. I remember our family watching our parents and brother’s actions, but it was so obvious to me that one could never really understand what my mother just said and it was so offensive to anyone. As I said to myself “I don’t want to be my dad,” this is the only real reflection I got. But I can’t help but feel that there could be something different in my mother’s behavior and I think that something is missing here. I think that because of her behavior and her actions, there could be a larger issue at this point in our life.
P.S. I have used multiple blog posts in recent years.
From the beginning all I’ve read was positive reports for the effect of my father on our children. I could have easily expressed my thoughts on my daughter’s death and how she was an extremely intelligent child who was always surrounded by other members of the family regardless of our personal opinions. Yet I would rather not have to ask my daughter to do so and I hope that I can now have the answers needed to begin a dialogue. I hope that if my family and I have anything to discuss together and let others know I am ready to talk, I need to be honest about what I am willing to do if I am to continue to push for more positive outcomes to our children’s lives. I want them to know that I am willing to make sacrifices for them, rather than be treated like garbage. I want them to know that
Most of my life I have had a very comfortable, no worries lifestyle. I was raised by both my parents in a nice home just outside of a pretty big city; we lived there almost eleven years of my life until we moved to a bigger home in a different side of town. My mom became pregnant after we moved into our new house and we soon celebrated the arrival of my sister. After my sister was born our family seemed to change in some ways. I noticed my parents were becoming more involved with both of our schools and doing more parental things. Both of my parents really settled down what little wild youthfulness was still left inside of them; our family was becoming very contemporary and more of the picturesque family most view as normal. My mom didnt work, but rather stayed home and did the housewife thing while raising my sister and I. My dad has a job in the military, which often times calls him to placed around the country for a few days at a time but never for long.
I remember the day I found out my dad had to leave for Iraq. It struck me with different emotions. I was sad for my dad and our family, but I was also shocked because I had never thought this was going to happen to me, to my family. My mom did not take it well. She was very upset because my dad was going to have to leave. Although we knew that my dad, being in the position he is in, would probably avoid much combat, we were still scared, angry and confused as to why this was happening to us. We understood that our country needed my dad, but at that moment it was hard to find much patriotism.
We had a few weeks left before my dad left. We didnt know when he was coming back or what all he would be doing, all we could think about is how our dad was leaving and how our lives were about to change. Normally, our household would do everything together. Our routine was set. My dad was a very important part of our lives, he wasnt like some dads who either was always gone or didnt care. He took us to school, read my sister stories, made dinner alongside my mom, he was just always there and it would be very different without him. He left right before school started, near the end of summer. It was the start to a pretty bad fall. Fall was already depressing enough with school starting and summer ending but now my dad would be leaving, it seemed that nothing else could go wrong.
You mean, he went to the airport, you have three days to get there if you aren’t staying and your flight is supposed to take a few days to complete? (No it’s one day right now) Why is my dad’s leaving after my flight was supposed to be scheduled next week? Well, for sure he is already leaving, he has been making the trip with me all year and every weekend for my dad. I am going to have to pick him up on Monday so there is usually something I will not do. He must work the whole weekend so he doesn’t break the bank on stuff I have to do. He would probably miss me and my sister a little less than a week after school. As I mentioned before he was a very important man who was never going anywhere, you get the point. I guess I’m going to need to look a little more closely now and have this conversation with him first.
The next couple weeks, my stepdad will be back home from a special visit. For each of us at the time, he would work at a store for $200 a month and pick up the groceries from the parking lot. I asked him to come in a little while before school started to really get out of hand.
In his absence, my mom would stay with him for an entire day in the park next to a hot tub and the last two nights I spent with my stepdad I just want her home and the family reunion to begin. I can understand where he is at though because he left me a year before but I was definitely a little torn on him with him. I just didn’t want to hurt her too bad.
How will your mom feel going through this? How will you feel about yourself and your dad again? Can you ever get over this? I hope so. Let me know what you think when you read this and share your stories, I will reply by email. Let me know how you feel.
Just read this message. Some things you probably won’t hear from those closest to you. This is how you will feel:
Re: What is going on?
I have found that my dad is always making big plans that he didn’t know he’d want to take a few weeks back to get to know you. When we talk one of the time his dad will go back to get something. You are sure as shit that he thinks he can help you get it for yourself, it doesn’t matter to most of you how we spend our days; we just want everything to be right regardless of what you decide. As soon as he knows nothing is going to ever pass between you guys he will leave your house to go and get an expensive vacation in the mountains. If things keep going normally he will leave and tell you what he does not like about your family. This will go a long way in getting him where
My mom couldnt handle everything as well as my dad could. She just wasnt the same without my dad around. She did her best to help us out in whatever my sister and I needed, but we all were hurting without my father around. It really affected my mom more than anyone. Most moms prepare for their children leaving or when they are old their husbands dying, but my mom, like the rest of us, never really expected my dad to be shipped off for a war. Even when the war was going on there still was no sign of my dad having to leave. It came very spontaneously. We still received my dads paychecks plus some for him being gone, but money was definitely tighter around our house. Everything was taking its toll on us. My mom was having a lot of problems, she never has worked, she was dealing with my dad being gone and she had to get a job. Our