Jeff Petersen ().

I have a dream, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said.

The great civil rights leader had a dream about equal opportunity for all people, regardless of race or religion.

I too have a dream. Mine is related to the 2004 Christmas season, and it involves parents buying video games that send a message of peace, not war.

In the I Have a Dream video game, every time you shoot an insurgent, four more pop up out of the desert, or some Baghdad back alley, and come at you.

The same is true, however, of positive actions. Every time you build a school, four more pop up.

Every time you repair a water system, four more repaired systems show up.

Every time you build a hospital, four more pop up.

Every time you plant a seed, four trees pop up.

The soldiers’ humanitarian efforts in Iraq are often overshadowed. If you watch TV, you’ve probably witnessed the daily parade of roadside bombings. Of prisoner abuse. Of shootings in mosques. Of dead people and camels and donkeys and dogs being turned into bombs even as the corpses decay in public squares. Of kids strapping on toy rifles, or even real ones, and imitating their parents.

Sure, the media could do a better job of putting things in perspective, of getting beyond feeding the 24-hour-news-cycle monster. Of leading with something other than blood.

But the media should never make war pretty. We should insist on the truth. War is hell. War is 1,000 sons and daughters not coming home for Christmas.

Now we have National Guardsmen and Guardswomen from Northeast Oregon headed for Iraq and dangerous duty trying to make the peace. Trying to build a country where the equal opportunity King envisioned, or some form of it, prevails. Where people are free to choose their own path and succeed. Where people don’t have to subscribe to the state religion and can criticize the government without fear of having their tongue chopped out.

We have families left behind in Northeast Oregon trying to cope with the daily dangers half a world away. They watch the world go on, spinning round and round. They see happy families Christmas shopping at the mall, or attending the company holiday party, and find most of our concerns here trivial.

As we shop for Christmas this year we can give these families a gift by not buying video games for our kids that give inaccurate portrayals of violence.

Sure, people have a right to own whatever video game they want or gun they want. People have a right to free speech, especially those whom we disagree with and find disgusting, outrageous or crude.

Still, we can make choices. We can say no to our kids, however much they beg and plead for the latest popular bloodbath game. Or assassination game.

We, as adults, can strive to build little human beings who care about equal opportunity. We can build people who care about not only their own rights and responsibilities but those of others, no matter their race or religion.

Christmas is a good time to start.

Put something for soldiers’ families under the tree

As we shop for Christmas this season, let’s give a gift to Northeast Oregon soldiers and their families. Many of them are taking pay cuts to serve our country, and could use a gift card or two to help pay the bills or have a special pizza night. Here’s how you can get involved:

? Support the Troops Program, 963-8588, Union County Chamber of Commerce

Or make a deposit directly at Community Bank, 904 Adams Ave.

Reach the author at jpetersen@lagrandeobserver.com .