Perspectives on War from 5-yr-olds and Fisher Price

This morning j. was playing with what he lovingly refers to as his "guys." Being 5 years old, he has more "guys" then I could possibly count. Lately, they all live on my living room floor inside, on top of or near the Imaginext creation that serves as their buildings. j. has the fire house, castle, coastal patrol station and the dungeon, but he has snapped them together in strange formations, creating an amalgamous creation with trapdoors, winches and all the other things "guys" need.

This morning, however, the story is not about the strange building. It's about "good guys" and death.

j. informed me that he set up extra good guys just in case some of them were killed by the bad guys, so there were some more to take their places. Without even thinking I replied: "That's what President Bush does."

Ah, so aside from revealing my political leanings, it also made me stop and think. It is what Pres. Bush does. Has more good guys ready to go in case others get killed. He even has good guys who were done being good guys come back and play the good guys again (think: Stop Loss).

I got me wondering. Is war run by people who never gave up playing with "guys?" Does it really boil down to a 5-year-old's logic?