Something Ben said to Sayid got me thinking......

[fan of Sawyer nicknames]

After Sayid shot Nadia's killer, Ben tells Sayid to go home and mourn the loss of his wife, and Sayid says he has no home.  Ben tells him to walk away because "once you let your grief become anger, it will never go away. I speak from experience. This is my war, not yours." 

I wonder if this comment was in relation to his grief over Alex in the 'future' of 2005, or if it could somehow be related to Annie?  Is it possible that his "war" with Widmore has something to do with Annie and what happened to her? Widmore told him "it was my Island, and it will be mine again" or something like that.....maybe when Ben was on the Island with Annie, something that happened prior to the purge that killed Ben's father caused Annie's demise, and Widmore had something to do with that? Could the war over the Island have root in that?

It's been bugging me since he said it. Any thoughts?

[jugdish]

It has to do with Alex, He is talking to Sayid in Oct 2005, Alex was killed late 2004 or early 2005.

[Lion of Atreides]

And it's a testament to Ben's manipulative powers that he could use the death of his own daughter to deceive Sayid as to his (Ben's) true psychological state.

[LostinLock]

Awe don't fall to Ben's games......
But then again Widmore is no angel

Ben is a mastermind of mind games....

[Desmond8MyPopRocks]

While I agree that Ben's comments to Sayid got me thinking, but my mind rabbit-trailed in a different direction than yours.

I believe that Ben was sincere in his admonition, yet he had his own ulterior motive, that to motivate Sayid to pick off Widmore's peeps one by one.  Ben wanted to know when he shared his thoughts with Sayid on "this is my war, not yours" that
hope is a dangerous thing to  lose."  Ben was also a fishing expedition to see just exactly how committed Sayid would be to going after Widmore's people.

And again, this still leads me back to Sayid's own words I typed above, "Hope is a dangerous thing to lose," for once someone loses their hopes/values/dreams/aspirations, you become a person with nothing left to lose--and I believe one feels suddenly unaccountable for their actions once they lose hope.

my two hope cents worth cheers
*Des8

[JBRam]

It has to do with Alex, He is talking to Sayid in Oct 2005, Alex was killed late 2004 or early 2005.

I say it could be either Alex or Annie, or even both.