We know how their lives included many hours of discomfort and privation in order for them to defend the country they are working for.
Yes, any country. Any patriot who works to keep its country's values strong. That's what makes a veteran. On whichever side of the conflict they might be.
We in America have such blinders on, thinking the only force that is good is ours.
I'm sorry folks. We've only been around a couple of hundred years. And we do have history classes to teach us about much older and longer-lasting empires. They also fought each other, and someone became the winner and wrote the next history stories.
I am pretty much a pacifist. I don't see any reason that young (they always are) people should kill each other so that a territory may belong to one political entity or another.
But of course I've known some of these men (mainly men) who have come back from a conflict where their lives were often endangered. None of them say it was fun. None of them say they wish they could do it again. However, some of them (not my friends) are known to continue to serve their countries in the military. I give them respect for their choices, as I respect anyone who makes a decision for themselves with rational thought, hopefully to plan no harm to anyone. I can't respect anyone who chooses the military out of emotions, especially hatred. That's no way to make any decision!
And thus I give respect of the highest level to those who died in their choice of serving their country through personal sacrifice.
As I said on the day after our latest election, I do love the United States of America...especially for it's democratic legal system that supports a constitution full of rights and freedoms. Its government has flaws. And its ability to improve them is extremely slow. But we've thrown off slavery.
Let's consider getting a new election process. This won't come about in the next 4 years of course, but if a model is available, and then can be proposed by a good leader, then we can fight for it. No electoral college, one citizen one vote instead. No long campaigns, a limit on the time people could run for election! Think of all the money and improved moods that would give us. And limited terms for people in the Legislative branch of government.
The USA has gone through some really tough times. I hope that things keep getting better.
Happy Veterans Day!
I'm sharing this with Sepia Saturday, which has a November meme of War and Peace...couldn't be more appropriate!
Today's Quote:
Of any stopping place in life, it is good to ask whether it will be a good
place from which to go on as well as a good place to remain. Mary Catherine
Bateson
A thought provoking post. Thank you for sharing your thoughts when so much of the world is in turmoil, whether militarily ir politically.
ReplyDeleteVery nice post.
ReplyDeleteMy feelings too. The modern world has too many new kinds of "blinders", even as most people have forgotten the origin of the word, a halter piece that allows a horse to see only what's in front of it.
ReplyDeleteI wish I were as optimistic as you about the next four years. I fear much blood will be shed overseas and in our own streets before these next four years are over.
ReplyDeleteWell said. In our news today there's a lot of focus on the large number of ex servicemen who return suffering from PTSD and often end up taking their own lives. Surviving combat hasn't done them any favours.
ReplyDeleteLet's hope we learn from our mistakes. That seems so simple but never seems to happen, particularly in the case of war. Said H. G. Wells about WW1. "This is already the vastest war in history. It is a war not of nations, but of mankind. It is a war to exorcise a world-madness and end an age… For this is now a war for peace. It aims straight at disarmament. It aims at a settlement that shall stop this sort of thing for ever. Every soldier who fights against Germany now is a crusader against war. This, the greatest of all wars, is not just another war—it is the last war!"
ReplyDelete