Today, you, I, everyone in America owes a veteran!
In modern-day wars, here are the costs of freedom!
~World War I … 116,516
~World War II … 405,399
~Korean War … 36,574
~Vietnam War … 58,209
~Gulf War … 382
~ Iraq, to 2/16/07… 3,130
No, as we can see, freedom is never free! It always costs in terms of human life, limb, and suffering. It costs some much more than others. What has freedom cost you?
It doesn’t matter if you “believe in war”, if you “object” to war, or not.
War is a fact, it is something we have all seen, or done, or been affected by.
WAR IS, always has been, and always will be, and war always means somebody dies, somebody gets hurt!
If you are reading this, thank a veteran that it wasn’t you who paid, or who died! Thank someone who served, or is now serving, in America’s military! Like it or not, agree with war or not, because there is a military, be glad that you are not packing a gun and facing the enemy today! You are here, safe, in one piece.
And the next time the troops come home, you who never left this country to fight in God-forsaken places where death comes daily, think twice before you meet them with boos, with curses, with anything but gratitude! Somebody has to stand and deliver, has to be the ones to do what others may find distasteful or wrong. It’s just a fact of life. Nations have always had and will always have military forces. Whether the politicians or big businesses create wars is a moot point: war happens! Blame the ones responsible, not the ones who are sent by them to restore the peace, to defend, to protect!
The next time the troops come home, whether in a coffin, or in a wheelchair, or on one leg or two, you’d do well to show them the honor, the respect, and the thanks they deserve, and then you may do well to pray unceasingly that there will always be someone to take YOUR place wherever war is!
The next time the troops come home, before you pass judgement on a single one of them, ask yourself, if you have the courage to, “What would I have done to survive if I had been where they have been? What did they do that I, myself, wouldn’t have also done if I had been in their boots then?”
The next time the troops come home, try to remember this: It isn’t the TROOPS who created the wars! They don’t get to decide where, when, or why wars will be! The ones responsible for that are your elected politicians here, and the powers that be in all nations elsewhere, so if you don’t like war, why not take the subject up with the ones who send the troops! And, while you’re at it, ask them if their sons or daughters have ever gone to war, or if they themselves have. When they say “NO”, then ask them, “WHY NOT?”
No, how dare people blame the troops for war! Rather blame ourselves for electing those who create the wars, who say, “Go! Go make war!” Blame the giant corporations who profit greatly from war! But don’t ever, ever blame the men and women who took your places on all the battlefields , who made certain that there were no battlefields in your own front yards! If you look out and see no foxholes, no bomb shelters, no ruins from missile attacks, thank a veteran, thank those in the ranks today!
And to those of you who say you “support the troops”, could you perhaps put some action behind your words? Could you actually DO something for those you claim to “support” , do something besides defend their service with only a lot of flowery words? Maybe, pretending that each of them is your own child, your own husband or wife, your own dad or mom will help. Maybe doing that will help you see what a difference that makes in how you “support the troops”! Better yet, pretend each of them is YOU! Imagine how much more you’d want everyone to do if it was you on those battlefields! Try that!
One more thing … instead of believing what you read, or see on your television sets, ask a veteran, ask someone who has been there, someone who isn’t paid to write a story, to make headlines, to gain support for, or opposition to war! Ask the ones who were actually there … while you were here, all safe & sound. Get the real news, the pure truth from those who are, or who have been, on the battlefields! Ask someone who served!
Every day we live, we should all thank those who serve, or have served, in our military.