They just don't get it

I know that the people who are putting up the white crosses on their lawns think they are doing the right thing. In their minds, they're protesting the war. The hillside of white crosses in Lafayette, California, makes a strong visual statement, and the people behind that think they are doing the right thing.

They just don't get it.

Doesn't seem to matter how many times they hear it, directly from parents who have lost their sons and daughters over there, that using these mock grave markers is an insult to the memory of those killed in action. That those who have died were serving voluntarily - not draftees like in Vietnam. That maybe they didn't really want to be there, maybe in some cases they disagreed with the war - but they were doing their duty with honor. Voluntarily.

They just don't get it.

When you plant that white cross, you are casting those killed in service as victims. These honored dead are not victims.

They just don't get it.

It's the same mentality that believes that anyone who enlists in the service must have been duped, must be a loser, must have had limited options, chose the military over going to jail. It's a mentality that is so extremely self-centered that it cannot imagine why someone would willingly and even eagerly enlist, accept the risk, and put service above self.

They just don't get it.

It's been a facile position to say "I don't support the war but I support the troops." That is the biggest lie of our day. It's easily said, and most who say it don't really believe it. It is a PR statement, a recognition that we all bear a collective guilt for the way troops returning from Vietnam were treated.

So protest the war, protest against the White House and Bush, protest American imperialism - but leave the honored dead out of your campaign. If they were alive they would tell you the same.

Get it?

Comments

Anonymous said…
opposing the war but claiming to support the troops is intellectual dishonesty in its essence. if you can't support the mission, you can't support the troops.
March 11, 2007 at 8:59 PM
Anonymous said…
I have a friend with a white cross on her lawn, and it's there to honor the many hundreds of thousands of Iraqi dead - victims to be sure. Perhaps we shouldn't assume all white crosses are for the all-volunteer American forces, but for the true victims of this war - those who didn't sign up for either Saddam Hussein or the American military.
March 20, 2007 at 6:42 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How I have neglected my blog and the sadness that results

So jeez, I am feeling a little contrite because I have neglected this blog. Feeling a little like I have let an old friend fall by the wayside while I have been spending all my time with someone new.I even got needled by one of my (few) readers today - "Wow, no blog post since April 2!"  Feeling a little frivolous and superficial because my good old reliable Blogger blog here has fallen victim to my other time sucks - namely, Facebook, and of course, what I like to call "real life." Maintaining a blog is no simple task, my friend. Just mouse up there to the top of the screen, left of center, and start clicking on "Next blog." You will soon soon discover there are lots and lots people who start a blog, make two or three posts, and discover it's kind of demanding. (You'll also discover that about two-thirds of all the random blogs you'll see in the "next blog" mode are in Spanish, which I find strangely fascinating. ) Maybe those whose
Read more

"Mikey Angels" flies off in both directions at once

Image
The expression we've all heard is "you can't be too rich or too thin." I suppose that gets said a lot around the tennis court at the country club, the changing room at Sak's? I suppose it draws a wry smile every time. Or is it really said in the aisles at Target by people who are at no risk of being too much of either? The expression we've never heard is "you can't be too smart," because we all know it is possible to be too smart. Kind of ironic since we spend a lot of energy trying to force kids to be smart. We pound them with homework, make them take tests, tell them the kids in Mumbai are going to take your future job. We try to get them into the best schools, the ones for the smart people, but they are always at risk of becoming "too smart for their own good." Based on what I've heard about last weekend's Presidential candidate activity, Obama is running the risk of being too smart for his own good. He and McCain did these l
Read more

Indians owned slaves? Did I sleep through that history lesson?

There's a story in the news about a vote in the Cherokee Nation to change their definition of citizenship, restricting it to descendants "by blood." The story goes on to say that this change will cut off the descendants of blacks whose ancestors were slaves to Cherokee owners. What? Wait a minute, what?? Indians owned slaves? Here you can learn much about what the Indian learned from the European settlers about keeping slaves , and how they adopted the practice. You think you know your history, then something like this pops up. There's a new show coming out on the BBC that will represent the global-warming-is-caused-by-the-sun theory. Titled "The Great Global Warming Swindle," it it set to air March 8. It's directed by a guy named Martin Durkin, and he says "It’s very rare that a film changes history, but I think this is a turning point and in five years the idea that the greenhouse effect is the main reason behind global warming will be seen as
Read more