AN AMERICAN CITIZEN'S THOUGHTS ON MEMORIAL DAY 2016
AN AMERICAN CITIZEN'S THOUGHTS ON MEMORIAL DAY 2016
After two and a half centuries of struggling with the issue, my country of birth has whittled down its once-heated, divisive, and complicated feelings about the costs of war to two things:
1. Saying "Thank you for your service" to men and women in uniform in the exact same hollow, semi-robotic tone as we tell them "Have a good day!" and ask them, "Paper or plastic?"
and
2. Giving lots of people the day off so they can go out and buy more crap they don't really need, most of it manufactured by other people in countries we have either declared war on in the past or will eventually get around to in the future. (At least vets are in good company on that front; we've done the same thing to fellow Americans George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, the Pilgrims, the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and the Reverend Martin Luther King. Heck, we even give Jesus, an honorary American, TWO shopping-related holidays every year!)
Here's my take.
Today and every day I am thankful to soldiers of all generations, genders and sexualities, countries of origin, skin tones, income levels, and religious and secular affiliations who have sacrificed body parts, mental health, time with loved ones and family members, years of doing whatever they may have preferred to do, and sometimes their very lives to defend and protect the countless remarkable privileges I have enjoyed over the course of my life. Some of these people did so because they were required by law; some volunteered. I am thankful to both groups. I didn't ask them to do it, and I can't honestly say I would have done the same for them if the boot was on the other foot, but I also know my comfort, safety, and happiness are a result of their willingness to do the dirty work.
Today and every day I grieve for the people of all generations, genders and sexualities, countries of origin, skin tones, income levels, and religious and secular affiliations who through no fault of their own have been caught in the crossfire of war after war after war after war after war after war after war after war after war after war after war after war after war after war after war after war after war after war after war after war after war—
wars into which they were neither drafted nor volunteered, wars which cost them body parts, mental health, time with loved ones and family members, years of doing whatever they may have preferred to do, and sometimes their very lives,
all because a handful of very powerful and well-off men in a windowless room on the other side of the world decided war was the best—if not the only—way to exact revenge on an enemy, or settle an ancient score, or build "prosperity" for themselves and a select number of their countrymen, or because they hallucinated that their god of choice told them to slaughter everyone who did not share their beliefs.
All my life I have heard religious people use the expression "love the sinner, hate the sin." This is one case where I think it truly applies.
What I really want to say to soldiers, casualties, and their friends and families, is: thank you for enduring things I can't imagine so that (hopefully) I will never have to, and I'm sorry for the unfathomable, irreplaceable losses you have endured. My pledge to you is that I will keep working to build a world where war is NOT the answer, no matter what the question or who asks it next time.