These are
indeed troubling times for all of us. There are those who
support the war and those who don’t. Obviously this is the very
essence of our country, our right to be for or against
something. This is what this nation is all about. As the old
saying goes…”I may not like what you say, but I will give my
life for your right to say it.” How true, how true.
While I may
disagree with those who are protesting our activities in Iraq,
while irks me more than their antics are those who have somehow
forgotten what war is all about. It is war. It is about death
and dying. It is about young men and women being injured or
maimed. It is not pleasant. This is not a video game in which
you play until your thumbs get numb and then go off to the
kitchen for an iced tea and a grilled cheese sandwich. In the
past several days, we have all been subjected to those various
talking heads on all stations who ask the most insane questions.
I heard one
over the weekend ask…’So, why haven’t we won yet?’ I wanted to
reach through the tube and shake her…..because it’s a WAR. It
isn’t something we can just go over and play nice with others
and hope everything will come out alright.
As of today
this thing has been going on for less than one week. One week!
How many years did World War Two go on? None of us want a
protracted conflict to be certain, but let’s get real folks.
I was in a café
the other morning and overheard some people talking about how
tragic it was that some of our soldiers had gotten killed or
injured. Of course, we hate this when this happens. No one wants
any of our men or women to be harmed in any way. But, the very
nature of war is centered on someone dying. The other side is
trying to kill more of us than we kill of them. That’s how war
works. To sit around and complain about our troops being injured
or killed is not looking at the reality of the situation. We
train armies to fight and to kill. You may not like that idea,
but that’s what armies do. They fight, they kill and sadly
enough some of them get killed in the process.
One lady
commentator was carrying on about…”Some of our troops could be
in ‘hand-to-hand’ combat. They might have to actually face the
enemy.”
My reaction to
this comment is simply this…Where have you been all of your
life? Have you been so isolated from reality that you don’t
really know what combat and war is all about? Have you lived in
that fantasy land called Hollywood for so long that you think
war is some kind of reality show that can be turned on and off
at the end of the day? Where the worst that can happen is a
spilled Latte? Look at the faces of those young men and women
over there. They are not movie stars, they are not politicians,
they are not the “in crowd”. They are simply our nations finest
and bravest who have volunteered, yes volunteered, to stand in
harm’s way so that we can have a free country. Your right and my
right to say what we want to say and when we want to say it is
being supported with the lives of these men and women. There
will be plenty of time for name calling and arm chair generals
in the days ahead. Right now, we need to be unified in our
support of our armed forces.
