Brushfire of Freedom
Voice of Adams
by Babe in the Woods
I always hear on the radio a commercial that never fails to make me smile because of its powerful message. Unfortunately, I’m not sure what the commercial is for, and I apologize that I can’t give the advertiser appropriate credit. But anyways, at the end of their radio ad, on a note unrelated to the product they’re trying to sell, they say something along the lines of, “Thank you to all of our servicemen and women. Whether you agree with the war or not, they’re still over there fighting and deserve all of our love and support.” Couldn’t have said it any better myself.
The war is complicated. Hopefully that’s one thing we can all agree on. And it’s one that’s hard to win, since we’re not really fighting any entire nation but, rather, groups of radicals. Plus America at home seems to be giving a half-hearted effort to the war while our soldiers give their all. Surely it’s hard to fight and win when funding and general support is being consistently called into question. We don’t mobilize our country for war like we used to, and I’m certainly not saying that we need to do things like we used to, because this war is different and calls for different measures. But, heck, our soldiers are still overseas, fighting to keep us safe at home and to help people all around the world. And this is true no matter what you think of the war or what you understand of why we’re fighting. Many of our soldiers have given their lives, but even those who go unscathed have made many sacrifices, to leave home, do grueling work, and see a brutal side of humanity that the rest of us don’t have to recognize.
To the credit of Americans, most of us are proud of our troops. The problem is that those people who see the troops as evil doers are also the loud people. They’re the ones who stomp and scream about how wrong America is for going overseas. They’re the ones who won’t recognize that wars have given them their freedom to stomp and scream. They’re the ones who gather in protest at soldiers’ funerals.
This last one is the one that gets to me. Yes, it is perfectly legal to do so because of the First Amendment, as verified in the Supreme Court ruling this March after Mr. Albert Snyder sued the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas for being emotionally disturbed when the churchgoers held an anti-gay protest during the burial of his son, Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, who died in Iraq in 2006. But just because something is legal doesn’t make it right, and I believe protesting at a military funeral is far over the line and a cruel offense against a grieving family. Hold whatever opinions you want, and perform legal demonstrations all you want, but do it in good taste.
With that being said, what about those of us who DO have pride in our soldiers? Why are we letting such loudmouths steal the scene? It’s time for some more news stories about people gathering to honor our troops and recognize their sacrifices. Those stories shouldn’t be so rare. We should see videos everyday of people lining the streets for the homecoming of a soldier. I was at the airport one time and witnessed a whole terminal give a standing ovation to soldiers who had just come home, and it really was an awe-inspiring moment. But this should be happening all the time!
I propose to you now that we start showing our pride. If you have the time and resources, there’s plenty of organizations that you can involve yourself with or donate money to who give support to the troops--Soldier’s Angels and Wounded Warriors are two great examples. I do a lot of community service related to the soldiers and have found that, despite the economy, people are wonderfully generous and eager to support our noble men and women of the armed services. It doesn’t take this much effort though. Showing your pride in little ways will make all the difference. A great first step now would be to contact your senator via letter, email, or phone to ask him or her to support Sen. John Hoeven’s proposal S. Res. 253 to make October 26 a national Day of the Deployed to honor our servicemen and women. Let’s remind the troops that we’re thinking of them. So thank soldiers and shake their hands whenever you see them, start waving Old Glory in your front yard, and let’s show our heroes that we love them!
To conclude for this week, I’m borrowing the motto of Soldier’s Angels:
“May no soldier go unloved
May no soldier walk alone
May no soldier be forgotten
Until they all come home”
Brushfire Home
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