I can't seem to understand why every time I voice my opinion on being an anti-war advocate, a soldiers-wife, daughter, sister or parent tell me I'm un-American for my belief. I've felt the need to write an article on this because of the constant opposition I've experienced through this idea. Let me clear up one thing: I am anti-war, not anti-soldier. I am not berating your son or daughter for fighting for my country, or risking his or her life. I am berating the idea that they have to go to war, kill innocents and go to a place where it is acceptable (and expected) to kill to come back to a place where it is illegal and have mental disorders and injuries. I am against he idea that we have to fight for our freedom by killing people that have done nothing to us. That we are still fighting for our freedom after we've already won. That we are killing men women and children simply because we can. We have the resources available to us. Twenty-two veterans commit suicide a day. Twelve percent of the homeless population are veterans. 70 percent of those homeless veterans suffer from substance abuse and 50 percent are suffering from a mental disorder making it difficult for them to hold down a job or even have the ability to get one after their deployment ends and they have to return to the real world.

Our veterans are living on the streets for eight to nine times the length of their deployment. Why are we content with this? Our soldiers are coming back worse and worse and I'm expected to be okay with this? Don't get me wrong, I have friends in the military. Of course, I support them and wish them all of the success their endeavors can grant them. I want their happiness, safety, and I want them to be able to lead normal, fully functional lives. I don't wish the horror of PTSD on them. The struggles with thought of suicides, or war flashbacks. I wouldn't wish this on anybody. How can we sit here, writhing in our privilege and security, and say that we are pro-war? What does that even entail? Being pro-murder, pro-death, pro-mental instability? I understand there are jobs in the military that aren't deployment related. I realize that I've never experienced the horrors of war firsthand and that I'll never be able to comment on the terrors of the job from my own point of view, but we have enough murder in the world in our country alone. Why do we need to see this in other places?

ISIS is attacking. Our country is being targeted. I understand that some may think that there are terms and conditions that apply to the level of murder we can get away with but I can't agree with the idea that we have to kill people in order to achieve the freedom that we want. We've, as a country, spent years walking over the bodies of innocents to get to the highest point and the biggest level of power but I'm tired of burning bridges in order for our point to become valid. Peace has always trumped persecution and I believe the only way to fix the disgusting state we've found ourselves in is the bury this idea that we have to kill for our country to be respected. That love and kindness is weak and that we can't achieve what we want to achieve better by building bridges not burning them. I may be a naive, young pacifist with no real insight into the world that is before me or really outside of my country and the safety inherent to me but I can say that I am not unaware of the tragedy that is going on in the world around me and the pain that parts of the world are being forced to experience. Our children are being brainwashed into believing that war and violence is glorious and something to be part of or contribute to. By the age of 16, an American child has seen 18,000 murders on television. If that fact doesn't scare you then you're not realizing the creations we're molding into the modern day child. I'm not saying to take away your child's Xbox and video games. I'm saying that we need to stop normalizing the acts of war that plague us as a society. I want the people that are slandering my beliefs on this subject to hear me out and realize that I want the best for their soldier.