No Child Should Ever Be a Victim of the War

Every day I look at my baby, I look into his eyes, and I wish that every child in this world received same love as I give my baby every day, every hour, every minute, every second. No censorship anymore, media is telling us all. Everywhere we turn and look, everywhere we hear, children die - accidents, sickness, diseases, murders, abuse, hunger, poverty and war.

'A little girl playing outside her home in the dirty sand. Assembling a small structure from small pebbles and dry sticks, and a leaf, and some dirty sand. Her golden hair is getting in the way. With little hand she moves her hair off her eyes, with the other hand she is trying to keep the pebble wall to stand. Her face is getting dirty, her blue eyes are full of tears, she is struggling to put her little farm together. A boy near by runs around with a stick and a string attached to it. It is his homemade fishing rod. Suddenly dark flying machines are flying over the girl's and boy's head. They look up. Oh, not again - they know. Bombing starts. Noise is unbearable. More wind with dirty sand. The boy somehow escapes in the potato fields. Lays there half covered in the sand and scattered around potatoes. He is scared. He follows asleep. As he opens his eyes, he looks around. He is safe. People are talking. The little girl stands in the middle of the field, dirty sand is hitting her small gentle body, but she stands there like a little trooper. She is not moving. She is looking at her little farm falling now apart. She wants to reach out for the falling pebble wall, but she cannot. A man grabs her small body. Pulls her to his chest. He holds her tight. He is protecting her. Its too late. Her eyes never opened again. Next morning she dies. She dies from shock. People are crying.'

The little girl is a victim of the WWII. This little girl in the above story is also my dad's sister, she was only 5 years old. She died of shock. Even though the story is dramatized a bit by me and enhanced, I am sure that in the real time, it was even more dramatic then I could ever describe. At later time, my dad's another, only month old sister also dies. Result of local bombing, falling off the bed, trauma and shock to the little fragile body.

WWII indirectly killed many innocent children, unrecorded, never mentioned. Unmarked small wooden crosses deteriorated over time. Burial grounds became empty fields filled with tall green grass swaying left and right. The little lost souls dance forever in the wind.

This Christmas as we celebrate this glorious day, let us remember those little souls that never got to enjoy the small presents, home baked cookies, warmth of the fire place, Santa Clause, and love.

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen. "
~ Author unknown, attributed to a 7-year-old named Bobby

Letter to Prime Minister of Canada Stephen Harper

Dear Mr. Harper:

At first I would like to thank you and all the Parliament Ministers for finally running this country in order. In the past I wasn't interested in politics, but since the sponsorship scandal and knowing that my tax money was misused by the Liberal Party of Canada, I have decided to do my due diligence and vote for the party that can be honest, organized, stable and give to the people. And these are four magic words that I can describe the Conservative Party of Canada - honest, stable, organized and supporting people of Canada. Not to mention that you speak to us in simple language so we can understand better.

Unfortunately, when I finally started to vote, I did not support your party, as I do strongly believe in the environment and the Green Party was my choice. However, the vote given to them was a free vote, no due diligence was done. I realized it was a mistake, because as much as the Green Party can do for Canada's environment / worldwide, the Conservative party can do the same. Thus since the last two elections, my votes were yours.

Mr. Harper, I have watched closely your strategic approach with your Parliament Ministers to run our country. I must say you have done an amazing job in such a short period of time. People of Canada must realize that it isn't easy to do this job, and now in the time of the economic crisis, they must realize that you do not have a magic wand to continue to give us 'goodies' as you have done in the past, or so called wanted stimulus package.

Further in my letter to you I would like to mention a few items that were very beneficial to me and my family as from your last budgets. I think you gave us more than enough, therefore, I don't expect to get anything major in your next budget presentation.

• The Goods and Service Tax [GST] cut from 7% to 5%. In our house every penny counts.
  
• The Universal Child Care Benefit [UCCB] of $1200 was an excellent idea. I don't know what other Canadians do, but I took that money, some cash gifts for the baby and invested in my child's future education the Registered Education Savings Plan [RESP]. Because I maximized the investment, I received from the government a maximum match of $500. I think this is a good deal, even banks cannot give me 20% interest rate.
  
• The tax free account is even better than the Registered Retirement Savings Plan [RRSP]. I think every Canadian should save their money, or as ING advertises - Save Your Money. It is always good back up money for crisis in case we loose our jobs.

What happened recently with a goodwill government housekeeping strategy of yours, sparked a lot of fire in the opposition parties. However, I think we as Canadians should be aware of how our tax money is being spent. You were willing to take a cut in the federal funding of the political parties. I think that was a brilliant idea. I know it did not go through and did not go well with the opposition parties, but as a result of that it showed us the following:

• How unstable the opposition parties are.
  
• What is their main goal? A goal to take you down Mr. Harper. I can see that there is a bit of personal matter. They seem to be angry with you. And I really think that no matter how good the budget will be in January 2009, it still will be not good enough for them.
  
• It is all about who is in power. The opposition parties showed their true face. Its all about political power and not about the Canadian people or economic crisis.
  
• The coalition party formation, the most pathetic action ever taken, it shows how very reactive the opposition parties are. You always urged us not to panic, and they did not listen. Truly, they behave like the stock market.

Mr. Harper, we Canadians need a stable and organized government. Canada is a superior country compared to many countries in the world. We are spoiled, we have so much and when the times boom we want more and more. Yes, in fact we became a bit greedy. We need to reflect back and evaluate what we have, and be happy, and everything else extra is a bonus. It is not completely government's fault that jobs are lost. It is the economy crisis, and the governments role in this is to help the businesses. I think at some point we would know that too many cars will be built, and demand will fall. Definitely the automotive industry is in crisis, but what can you do in such a short period of time, let them build more cars?

That is all I have to say to you today Mr. Harper. Please continue to do what you and your Parliament Ministers have done for our country. Should you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to comment on my blog. On the side note, you will be seeing more political letter series on my blog, therefore feel free to drop anytime. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Anna :)