One of my guilty pleasures is day-time talk shows. I don't know why, considering they usually end up pissing me off. Yet here I find myself frustrated with The Talk. Today's segment about Tom Cruise frustrated me. I'm not mad or anything. I am; however, baffled. I fail to see how Mrs. Sharon Osborne was able to make a comparison between Tom Cruise leaving his child to film two movies over seas, to parents serving in the military and being deployed. Let's try to talk through this. Yes, both spend time a way from their child(ren). Yes, both worked hard (respectively) to attain their respective careers. When men and women sign up for the military, they know there is a chance of being deployed.

The decision to join or not is where their ability to choose ends for military families though. When they receive their orders, they can't "turn down the job." They do not have that "choice." Tom could have turned down one or both jobs. I am not saying he should have, just that he had the "choice'' to do so. If it were SUCH a big deal that Tom saw his child, he had more "wiggle room" to see her. He was not in a war zone. A visit could have potentially been arranged. His child would not have been in immediate harm. A deployed military mom or dad has no way to see their children, unless they receive R&R (two weeks tops). Children can't be flown to a war zone to spend time with mom and dad.

I am not saying Tom is in the wrong. How he chooses to live  and raise his child is his choice and one of our business. I also, was not meaning any negative jabs toward military parents. Being the product of a soldier and girlfriend of a United States Air Force veteran, I would never consciously insult our min and women in uniform. This was merely, a girl pointing out why Mrs. Osborne's comparison was faulty. What would you add? Do you feel like this was a faulty comparison? Why, or why not?



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