One of the most rewatched movies in my house growing up was The Princess Bride. We loved it because each of the characters were fantastic. The story centers on Westley, the farm boy turned pirate turned rescuer, and his determination to be with Buttercup. Buttercup and Westley will cross paths with the Sicilian criminal mastermind Vizzini, with the giant Fezzik, and with the swordsman Inigo Montoya.

I loved Montoya. He is swordsman for hire working for Vizzini. he has one desire in life: to avenge his father who was killed by a man with six fingers on one of his hands. I loved him for his persistence and for his high sense of honor. His most repeated line still rings in my ears, when he will meet the six fingered man he will say: “My name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die.”

When you take the life of any person, it is a solemn and serious action. It is something that should not be taken lightly if it is to be done at all. Regrettably, we have a White House that is posting videos of killing people mixed with clips of Wii Sports and bowling alley edits. On the other end of our airstrikes is often a husband, a father, and behind him is a wife and children. Sometimes our airstrike is misplaced and it is the wife and kid. So far we have killed 1,500 Iranians and wounded close to 20,000 people.

The children growing up in Iran will remember what we did to their parents, to their friends. It is really hard to make friends with the next generation using bombs.

This is especially true when you look at our differing cultural values. I am going to speak in broad terms, I am aware this is not true of every person in Iran or in the United States.

The religion of America is capitalism. Money is our god. Our greatest value seems to be our retirement. Shortly after the bombing started, the conversation became about rising gas prices and the coming inflation as a byproduct. We hear conversations about the strength of the dollar, the fluctuations in the stock market. We are getting updates on the cost of bombs and the daily price tag for pummeling one of the world’s most ancient countries. There is a growing concern for our national debt and there is concern about the Federal Reserve and their interest rate. President Trump seems especially sensitive to the market, and encourages market participants not to panic.

Iran does not care about money or markets. They are a religious Islamic country, if not the people certainly the people in charge. And while I find the religious political elite of Iran evil, they are nonetheless devout. At the center of their religion is not money, but family, with the father being the religious head of household. And right now, the United States is killing the fathers of Iran. And women and children.

A powerful and rich person may start a war to enrich themselves and their friends. But the person fighting that war, an individual who signed up for the military for free college and a paycheck, is not wanting to give up their life for a forever war that only enriches themselves elite. Meanwhile, this soldier will be facing a nation that is fighting to avenge their dead family.

This is a battle of values, and Iran has deeper conviction. We, the United States and our ally Israel, have killed their fathers. No matter our intention, whether pure or not, we have decided to participate in the taking of life. And even if the war ends today, the world has forever been changed. Once bombs start dropping, a new world is being formed.

Watch the video below to see our cultural values through the eyes of children.

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