Supporting our troops, supporting our country
I am prompted to write today’s post by a well-meaning but misguided (or ignorant) relative who persists in bombarding me with e-mail forwards about supporting our troops and loving my country. My favorite was the one that showed military men and women carrying wounded Iraqi children, or crying, or praying. Her opening salvo was “Surely even Dennis Kucinich and his supporters would be moved by these pictures.”
Why do people assume that if you do not support this war, that automatically means you do not support our troops? Maybe there are people out there who draw a line in the sand that way, but those people are wrong. If I didn’t support our troops, I wouldn’t care what they did. Why else would I care about this war? Because it’s costing us money? Big deal. This country has been wasting money since the beginning. It’s worse with a checkbook than I am, and believe me, that’s saying something.
I don’t want this war - I don’t want any war - because I don’t want to see American people die. I know the soldiers enlisted, I know they believe in fighting for our country and I commend them for that. But you can’t tell me that any given soldier would not rather be home, playing with his kids or sleeping in his own bed, instead of facing death every minute.
My grandfather was a decorated veteran of WWII and no one is prouder of him, no one loves him more than I do. I have dear friends who have come back from several tours of Iraq. But I don’t believe in violence as a solution to a problem. It’s that simple. When we use violence to try and solve a problem, people die. American people die. American families cry. American children lose parents. American parents lose children.
I support our right to have a military to defend us. I also think our military should be used as it was intended to be used: for defense. Not for offense. But that’s another posting for another day.
Here’s a special bulletin for the relative with the itchy send-button finger: I love America. I love Americans. I love our troops. I support our troops. And I will be the first one to hug any soldier the minute he or she sets foot back on American soil. Alive.
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