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Life is full of choices—we all know that. Every single day each one of us is called upon to make a decision regarding a choice. Do I want to wear these shoes or those? Do I want to stop for gas now? Or should I stop later and play that fun “OMG will I make it to the gas station” game when the gas light comes on? For the most part, as ordinary citizens, the choices we face and the decisions we come to are fairly simple. We know we have a choice to pay our bills or not, but we also know what consequence the decision of not paying those bills would bring: no electricity, no heat, etc. So we kind of “know” without too much internal debate what decision we have to make regarding whichever choice. We are all comfortable with the paths we have to choose to take or not to take, and we leave the rest of the “big decisions” to government and law makers and other puppet masters. That’s why voting is such a big deal. We put our trust in the candidate with views most like our own and vote for him or her to be elected to whatever office to make the decisions as they see fit. This process allows us to take the weight off of our own shoulders and put it on the elected officials. Then we can just sit around and bitch or praise whatever action they took.

In general terms, we already know that with each day and each big government obstacle, a few basics will happen. Taxes will fluctuate, inflation is inevitable, the economy will vary, some politician will carry on a lengthy embarrassing affair, and some rich guy with fat pockets will be exposed as a greedy bastard. All of those things are just the norm these days in America. But what happens when a really important life-changing matter comes to the table? Right now, one of those sorts of things is right in front of us in Syria. We are standing at the forefront of what could be another war. Yet in the midst of all of us, the number-one person we chose to make the right choice is basically refusing to do so. President Obama, our proverbial “commander in chief,” has taken himself out of the equation and instead put it on other shoulders to decide what to do. I really don’t think that’s okay, and I really don’t think he’s doing his job.

I saw the video on CNN of innocent Syrians in obvious painful distress at the hands of a dirty clan of extremists who call themselves leaders. The video was pretty awful: people twitching from an apparent chemical attack, completely defenseless as their nervous systems lost control and ultimately killed them. Women, men, and children—no one was safe from this ugly, demonic act. It’s hard to sit here over in North America and imagine what that would actually be like. I mean, we only know about it because our spoiled fat asses sat on the couch watching cable and saw it broadcast, or it was streamed on our smart phones through a Twitter feed.

So we look at the footage and we shake our heads and think “Oh, that’s terrible!” with a guilty, subtle thought “So glad it’s not me...” I’m guilty of that thought, too. I simply can’t fathom as a mom what I would do if I saw my children being tortured in such a way. It’s unspeakable. We are so lucky that because we are Americans we seldom have to worry about acts like that. It just doesn’t happen that way here. Yet, also because we are America, and the supposed super power on this vast planet, I think we need to help and show this Assad regime that there are consequences in this world if anyone hurts another human life out of bitter, hateful spite. As much as I hate the idea of going to war—again—I think we have to do something and I’m irritated that little old me, a nobody, can come to that decision when our great leader Obama cannot.

My guess is that Obama’s thought process tells him if he makes this decision to attack the Assad regime and punish them for this crime on humanity, then people won’t like him and he’ll run the risk of being labeled another Bush. But really? Man up! President Obama, you are, like it or not, the leader of this nation, and if you know something is wrong and demands action, you need to be said leader and take action. Don’t put it off to your peons for a vote, just because you don’t want the finger pointed at you. Obama clearly knows this situation needs remedy, as he stated himself in his address, yet instead of doing what he was voted in to do and make the hard decision, he has chosen to put the matter into someone else’s hands, and that is something I truly cannot respect.

There is not a single president alive or dead that ever was or ever will be liked by everybody. It simply isn’t possible. But that cannot be a good president’s worry when it comes to matters of life and death. I think it’s shameful that we have to wait for Congress to vote before we know if we are going to stick up for the greater good or not. Whether it’s our business or not, it IS the right thing to do.

That being said, I hope that by the time this column is printed, a decision has finally been made and action taken against the evil regime. Action is necessary—not to destroy Syria or hurt more people, but to send a message. Instead of a surge of troops and bombs and airplanes, where more innocent people—Syrian and American alike—could be killed, the best way to teach this regime and their followers a lesson is to send in some snipers and take out their main guy—or five or ten of their main guys. That alone would send the message that we won’t stand for the mistreatment of other people. But I’m afraid now that with all the media circus surrounding this issue and Obama’s unfortunate delay of action, any “sneak attack” that could have been effective is no longer possible. At this point I don’t know if we will be able to do anything at all. But I hope we do. I think it’s pretty selfish of us if we don’t. Not as Americans, but as humans.