The longest war in U.S. history came to an end last week, a war that started when I was 3 years old, and I think it is mind-boggling that the last casualties were people my age or younger.
A whole generation after 9/11 and the war on terror in Afghanistan, U.S. Marines David L. Espinoza, a 20-year-old Laredo native, and Dylan R. Merola, 20, of Rancho Cucamonga, California, were among the 13 members of the U.S. military who were killed in an attack on the airport on Aug. 26 in Kabul, Afghanistan.
Espinoza and Merola were probably no older than 1 or 2 when important historical events happened and eventually set in motion for them to be in Kabul and ultimately led to their deaths.
On Aug. 30, a few days after the airport bombing, 10 family members died in a U.S. drone strike. Eight of the 10 were children under the age of 18, with one of those eight being a 2-year-old. They added to the 48,000 civilian casualties caused by 20 years of war, according to an article by The Washington Post.
I am not a religious person but, growing up going to church on Sundays, I remember a few scriptures from the Bible, and one that comes to mind watching all the news about Afghanistan is, “The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children”(Ezekiel 18:1-3).
The sin is war, the father is past events, politicians and ideas, and the children are the people of Generation Z.
We did not start the war, nor were we even at an age to truly understand the events when they were happening, but they all died because of it. I find it shocking that 20 years after everything started, our generation is now carrying the burdens of it.
Normal, everyday people, political pundits and elected officials over the last several weeks have all made their opinions heard on various topics regarding Afghanistan. Something that cannot be up for debate is the cost of the war on terror. The estimated amount of war costs that the United States has debt-financed as of 2020 is a staggering $2 trillion, according to an article by
the Associated Press News. The estimated cost, with interest, could reach $6.5 trillion by 2050.
With so much money being spent on a war over the last 20 years, you start to think about alternative ways the government could have used that money.
It could have been used for the education of this generation, such as giving young students free meals, the latest books and materials needed. All that money could have been put toward free and adequate health care for the people of this country.
There are plenty of ways the $2 trillion could have been used but, now, in the aftermath of the longest war in U.S. history, we must learn from those mistakes.
I hope this country will never have to fight another war, and especially not one that burdens a whole future generation of people with debt and deaths.
