Monday, May 30, 2011

Memorial Day

Some days I have profound thoughts about stuff.  Today is Memorial Day.  It's a time to remember those men and women who have given their lives in conflict to make our country "free" and "safe".  The ultimate sacrifice.  On days like today I think about those men and women. When I was a child our country was involved in the Vietnam War.  I can remember being about  7 years old in the late 60's and watching the nightly news, and pictures of the war.  Pictures of the soldiers.  They looked like the kids on my street that were in high school.  They must have been young. How young were they? In Vietnam the average age was 19.  Children.  With their whole lives ahead of them.  Witnessing horrible things that man does to fellow man.  Injured.  Dying.  It hurts my heart to think of these children dying, possibly thinking about their moms and dads, brothers and sisters, possibly wives, children, friends. They would never know the joys of getting married or having children.  Sitting at a back yard BBQ on Memorial Day.  They died so that our country would be safe. They died for our rights.  You know, the rights we exercise today  - the right to speak hatefully and disrespectfully to each other.  The right to be intolerant of each other.  The right to get yourself so worked up about your political or religious beliefs that you totally tune out anyone with a differing opinion.  Somehow I don't think that the Founding Fathers had that in mind when writing the First Amendment.  The thing I love most about this country is that we have the right to change things.  If we don't like who is in office, we can vote them out.  Then, when we start to hate the people we voted in, we can vote them out.  We DO have the right to be nasty and disrespectful to each other.  I don't like it, I prefer informed debate, and maybe someday people will be willing to listen to each other again.  But it IS our right.  And no matter that I hate the level of intolerance in this country right now,

" I will gladly STAND UP next to you and defend it"
There ain't no doubt I love this land
God Bless the USA

2 comments:

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

Amen!
Xoxox

Barb said...

Very well said!

The average age of our current soldiers is 19-22 years old. I know a few of them personally. I powdered their bottoms and wiped their noses. Some of them can't vote or buy a beer or find a job. Shoot, some of them can't even remember to pay their cell phone bill. So they enlist and we put a semi-automatic weapon in their hands and send them off to war. That's another debate we need to find a resolution to (y'all). It breaks my heart on so many levels.