The column uses the recently ended U.S.-Iran confrontation, which it describes as ending in a bizarre agreement, as a metaphor for a very ugly breakup. The writer says the escalating threats between the two sides resemble a household fight in which one spouse initially makes sweeping demands, expecting the other to cave, only to face an unexpectedly strong counterattack and a long war of attrition.
In the story’s analogy, the first side eventually loses confidence, backs down, and stops asking for its original demands, wanting only peace. The other side then presses even harder with more extreme conditions. Throughout the clash, the couple’s child is left living in anxiety, going to sleep not knowing what reality will bring the next day, while the adults are consumed by ego and victory.
The fight ends abruptly with a humiliating divorce agreement. The first side gives up most of what it wanted, signs the paper, and leaves. The child is left behind with psychological scars, deep fear, and a sense of existential insecurity. The column says this mirrors what many children of bitterly separated parents experience, when the adult who promised protection simply walks away once it is convenient.
The writer concludes that the child must remember she is a sovereign being, with both the right and the duty to act in her own best interest. She should keep hope, grow stronger over time, and learn to protect herself without fantasizing that a wealthy savior from America will rescue her. Returning from the metaphor to real-life divorces and separations, the column urges couples not to turn breakups into ego contests, because in such wars there are never winners, only children left traumatized for years among the ruins.
