My mind is screaming at me right now that I ought not post this, but I’m going to anyway. I’m aware that some of you, perhaps many, are going to be downright livid at me for saying what I am about to say. But if there is anything I have learned over the years it is that while my opinions may not be of the popular variety, they are almost never of the alone variety. And when I do not voice them someone else ends up doing it for me later and I sit there kicking myself and thinking, ‘See! You should have just said it!’ So with that in mind, here it goes:
I’m tired of being reminded about how grateful I should be for the soldiers that died “for me” last week, and last month and last year. I’m tired of being told how I am supposed to feel about our military and their engagements in foreign affairs. And I’m tired of it being implied that I am less than patriotic if I dare think differently.
Because here’s the thing, and I will make no bones about it, not one god damned soldier died for ME last week. Not one soldier died for ME last month. Not one soldier died for ME last year. I have not ordered one soldier over seas. I have not asked one soldier to engage in combat. And if it were up to me not one soldier would die today or tomorrow either because I would bring every last one of them home now. Right now. This instant.
I would load them up on every plane, ship and helicopter we own and bring them home. Because I never asked for them to be deployed in the first place. I never asked for them to fight wars on my behalf. I would bring them all home. I would stop playing police man in all the world’s affairs and god with all our soldiers’ lives.
I would bring them all home because while there was a time when America’s soldiers were fighting for the people at home, while there was a time when they were fighting for freedom and prosperity and safety for our soil that time is not now. That time is quickly becoming ancient history.
Today American soldiers do not fight for freedom and prosperity and safety at home, regardless of what our antiquated ideas of their purpose still try to tell us. Today American soldiers fight for politics. They fight for D.C. hijinks. They fight for the hunger of power. They fight for abusive consumption of limited resources; they fight for oil. They fight to maintain presence in pawn nations in the developed world’s game of human chess.
Today America’s Soldiers fight so that manicured Soccer Moms can drop their kids off out of the back of a Hummer, so that suburban Dads can feel more masculine driving a gas-guzzling full-size pick up to the garden center to pick up a whopping three flats of chemical laden perennial flowers every spring when they’d have fit in the back of a Honda Civic just fine. Today America’s soldiers die so that talking heads on The Hill have something to pander to you about. They die because we’ve somehow convinced ourselves that the only worldview that could possibly be valid is ours and have taken it upon ourselves to enforce it from here to China and back again. And, let me assure you, my heart weeps about that every single day.
So, no, I don’t need to be reminded to mourn the senseless loss of lives that happens every day for a cause I would squash like a bug given half a chance. And frankly, I don’t think anyone else does either. What America needs to be reminded of is the real reason our soldiers are dying. What your fellow American needs to be reminded of is the Farmer’s Market that operates in his neighborhood every Saturday morning. What your neighbor needs to be reminded of is that her bike is just as good a transport device as her SUV. What your friends need to be reminded of is that politicians are deceitful; that we are being played for fools.
Want to remind someone of something meaningful? Stand in front of the meat counter at your local grocer with a picket sign that reminds people that soldiers are dying every day so they can eat cheap 1/4 lb hamburgers from a feedlot. Picket your local school pick-up line reminding all parents who live within a few miles that walking and biking are good for the body and good for saving the lives of soldiers, too. Write an op-ed in your local paper reminding people to pay attention to what their representatives in Washington are up to; I’ve got a hint for you, it’s not pulling out of wars we have no business in to begin with.
Want to remind someone of something meaningful? Talk about why we’re at war, not just the consequences of having been there.
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{ 4 comments }
I love you. Just sayin’.
Also…I don’t recall any of America’s soldiers enlisting for ME. I’m pretty sure every one I’ve ever known has done it as a way to afford an education. It’s a career choice. A respectable one no doubt, but the level of worship placed on it in this country as of late is nothing more than a distraction for the sheeple.
I am an Army Wife, my husband has served over the span of 14 yrs and joined right out of high school, not for the education but because he was always the little soldier boy. The one making guns or blowing things up. Playing army every chance he got. Some kids play teacher all day and become teachers, he played GIjoe.
He was recently hurt in Afghanistan and is now home with me. And although he serves, although I am proud of him, we/he feels it is pointless to be there… anywhere but home. Protecting the people at home, protecting our rights at home, defending our boarders, not theirs. You are right in your opinion (how could you be anything else, it is your opinion) no one sent him there other then a politician. When I look at my husband and see him struggle with his injuries I get angry. Angry at him for signing up again and deploying, angry at the man who planted the bomb that blow up next to my him, but mostly angry at the politicians who allow this to continue. A fight not for freedom but for something so much less in value. I love the idea of picketing the meat counter at the supermarket.
My twin brother is full-time Army. My 12 year-old son has wanted to be a soldier (like his Uncle Bud) since he was 3. This post, my friend, is sheer brilliance. I am not offended, one bit. In fact, I admire your honesty and appreciate your expressing your opinions in the most non-offensive way possible.
Wow! I really didn’t expect a positive response to this. Thank you all.
Amber, you’re right about the education/career choice part. I’ve also known more than one young soldier to enlist as a way to escape past transgressions. The army has a more forgiving stance on juvenile records than other employers. And the court system has a way of dismissing impending punishments when the defendant has begun the enlistment process.
Tehlia, I’m so sorry about your husband’s injuries. I cannot imagine the conflicted feelings and anger you must feel. I would feel the same, I’m sure.
Liz, I knew your brother was an accomplished military man, but didn’t know about your son’s aspirations. I believe to my core that soldiers, like teachers, are good people simply caught in the middle of a broken system. Noble people, seeking noble work but prevented from fulfilling it. I hope by the time your son gets there things have changed.
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