The battle lines are drawn and the war has begun. All the plastic men are in place, eitherhooked into their vehicles ready to roll, or perched high atop Mount La-Z-Boy andready for some sharp-shooting action. The looks on these plastic faces are ofanger and hatred for the other side; these little men were made for war. Theywere not groomed for an innocent life with a family. No, they were created withthe intent to kill and destroy. When missiles start soaring and plastic bodyparts start flying, only the favorite soldiers can be allowed to survive. In themidst of the battle zone is commander and chief of both sides, GI Joe and Cobra.Playing God, he decides who lives and who dies in the war of the living room.When the carnage is abruptly interrupted by a call to the dinner table, there'shell to pay as the murderous onslaught of plastic firepower is turned on thepasserby who unknowingly strolls across the middle of the carpetedground.

Now I watch the fighting in Afghanistan on CNN. The men I seearen't made for fighting. They are designed to live innocent lives with normaljobs and families. Yet as we send them to a foreign country to fight for ourfreedom, they aren't using plastic weapons. No, they use real ones made with theintent to kill and destroy. Real men strap themselves into B-17s for dailybombing runs to drop their firepower over the war area.

When realmissiles start flying and real men start dying for nothing more than revenge forthe attacks on September 11th and the image of Ground Zero etched in their minds,we have to ask ourselves why we have forsaken the innocence of life. Whateverhappened to the innocence of a young boy playing with his GI Joes on the livingroom floor?