All this recent “love, not war” talk and the rallies in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and… All this recent “love, not war” talk and the rallies in Washington, D.C., San Francisco and now in our own backyard, remind me of something that happened a long time ago that I’m sure most of you have never heard of.

Historians call it the Children’s Crusade. It’s a true story of hope, love and reality.

Back in the time of the Crusades, a French peasant boy named Stephen amassed an army of children. He claimed Christ appeared to him and gave him a letter to deliver to the king. As he journeyed from village to village, he spread word of his mission. Eventually he had a following of more than 30,000 children.

At some point, the mission changed. Stephen decided to lead the children to Marseilles. From there, they would sail to the holy land where Stephen felt they could bring peace by the power of their love.

It was a beautiful plan. Unfortunately, the merchants they met in Marseilles took them to North Africa instead and sold them off as slaves.

Things haven’t changed much since then.

I’m not suggesting the Children’s Crusade is an allegory for the modern peace movement. Not every aspect of that story has a counterpart in our modern world, so don’t get worked up in a pseudo-intellectual tizzy because the metaphor isn’t infallible – or because this sentence has become a triple negative. I only wish to suggest there are certain themes in the story that still resonate in the world today.

For instance, those who blindly follow a path of love and trust, when dealing with others who are renowned for only being concerned with themselves, will never get where they are trying to go. They will be deceived and taken advantage of.

This isn’t to say that peace shouldn’t be the goal. It just means that blind faith in the power of peace illustrates a fundamental ignorance of the way the world has – and always will – worked.

To get results on the global stage, a nation needs strength and it needs to be willing to exercise that strength. Love means nothing in the quest for peace without something more tangible to back it up – real tactics.

A case for peace can always be made, but not by clouding the facts with false emotional ploys: “Bush Bombs Babies.”

Does anybody actually believe that Saddam Hussein would have let inspectors back in or would have filed that weapons report – incomplete as it may be – without the real and ever-present threat of force? No! Of course not.

Walk softly, carry a big stick, and if you see someone across the street who gasses his own people, crushes democratic revolts, hides chemical weapons and then lies about it, go yell at him, and then crack him with the big stick if you have to! Or, I suppose, you could put the stick down, go to the playground and try to talk a group of kids into begging the mean man to stop.

Have them beg, beg, beg, beg, beg. And then 11 years will go by and nothing will have changed. No one seems to understand that sometimes peace, love and diplomacy aren’t enough; that if a leader isn’t forced to stop his tyrannical behavior, he never will.

When I see rallies like the ones just passed here in Oakland, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, I don’t see a group of intelligent, peace-loving adults. I see a group of innocent and naive children confused by the world and full of hope that they can change it. Children whose – if allowed to do things their own way – wide and idealistic eyes would lead them to the boarding planks of slave ships headed for North Africa.

Will Minton would like to note that this is not a pro-war column; only an anti-ignorant protest one. He can be reached at [email protected].