War and Comics

Sometimes Isaac asks us to read him the Sunday comics. Most weeks there are at least a few strips that he can understand, often Baby Blues, Mutts, or Garfield. (I try to avoid Family Circus, even if Isaac might enjoy it, because I find it so loathsome. I'm not even going to link to it.)

But the strip that generates the most interest is Doonesbury. When Isaac sees a strip like this one, for instance, he wants to talk about it. A lot.

Did you click through to the strip? In brief, it ridicules the equation of President Obama with the Nazis, whom it calls "the most evil force in history." Among the strip's depictions of the horrors of the Nazi regime are a tank and a helmeted soldier with a big gun -- and lots and lots of flames. This frame really struck Isaac's fancy.

But he also asked about the book-burning frame, and about the uniforms worn by the Nazi soldiers. And in the past he has asked many questions about the Doonesbury character Toggle, who wears an eye patch due to an injury suffered during the Iraq war.

Did I read him the whole strip? Not at all. I glossed over the death camps, and I completely left out the part about Obama, which would only have confused the issue. But I did my best to provide age-appropriate descriptions of Nazi philosophy, World War II, book-burning, and tank warfare. I've come a long way, because just two years ago I felt uncertain reading him "The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night" because there was a picture of a cannon!

In some ways I would have liked for Isaac to remain unaware of war and mass destruction, but I am increasingly comfortable with the discussion of mature topics, especially when he brings those topics up himself. I am glad that he wants to learn so many new things, and I know it would be wrong to impose a false ignorance on him. I am grateful that he shares his questions and curiosity with us, and I hope by giving him honest answers I can encourage him to continue to do so. And right now is my golden opportunity to impart my own beliefs, after all!

We already had to talk to him about war, anyway, because over a year ago he noticed a local memorial to the soldiers killed in the Iraq War. It's hard to overlook the thousands of crosses. He asked, "Why are all those Xs on the hill?"

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And what did Isaac think about World War II? I'm afraid at the very least I spoiled his innocent enjoyment of the picture of the tank. For a while he tried to argue that the armor of the tank would protect its occupants against bombs, but I insisted on telling him that a big enough bomb could blow up anything.

Then I realized I might scare him, so I let the subject drop.