Veteran's Day
I was in the hospital the other day (for my son, nothing major), and I was honored with the opportunity to speak with a WWII veteran. I knew he was a vet because he was wearing a hat that said "World War II Veteran." Am I a genius or what?
Anyway, we were able to speak for only a few minutes, but I was able to talk to him about his time in the service. He told me that he was on Okinawa, and had been injured there by shrapnel that broke his left leg. He still spoke with pride about what his comrades did, but he never took any credit for himself. And you could see he was still emotional about this experience which occurred over 60 years ago, when he was 19 years old. As I was called away to go with my son, I shook his hand and said "thank you for serving." He simply nodding to me.
The next day, I was speaking with a colleague of mine, and the conversation came around to politics and her hometown of Montclair, N.J. We discussed a show that we had both seen several months back on one of the TV news magazine (20/20?) wherein they compared Montclair with a town in Kansas. The comparison dealt with political views. They picked Montclair for its largely liberal population, and the community in Kansas for its conservative population.
In the conversation, my friend told me how at this past 4th of July parade in her town the residents refused to clap for passing soldiers, including Viet Nam Vets, yet cheered wildy as a small group of protesters passed by with signs imploring the US to "Get Out Of Iraq."
She and I marveled at the inability of liberals to perceive the importance of our military, and to perceive the amount of sacrifice it takes to become a member of the armed services. And we both declared our own inability to understand how liberals could detest our soldiers so much, and how they see red when it comes to anything military. The only decent thing we could agree on was that liberals lack any sense of common sense, and how they are driven by emotions and not reality.
While this may be a fair assessment, it does nothing to bridge the divide between liberals and conservatives nowadays. In fact, it only points out how futile it is to try to bridge that gap, because liberals today refuse to appreciate or even allow views different than their own. Some of them say they support the troops, but that's like saying you support the right to choose, as you blow up an abortion clinic. Their actions speak far louder than their words (and deeds). They get so caught up in their emotional outrage over everything, that logic for them ceases to exist.
And so it is true with their view of veterans. I doubt many liberals would have thanked that WWII vet I spoke with in the hospital. Indeed, I doubt many of them even remembered it was Veteran's Day. And that is sad. Because, regardless of your views of the military, the war in Iraq, or the war on terror, an inability to appreciate what our uniformed men and women do, and have done, for us is confounding to me. And I see no change on that side coming any time soon.
God Bless our Veterans.
Anyway, we were able to speak for only a few minutes, but I was able to talk to him about his time in the service. He told me that he was on Okinawa, and had been injured there by shrapnel that broke his left leg. He still spoke with pride about what his comrades did, but he never took any credit for himself. And you could see he was still emotional about this experience which occurred over 60 years ago, when he was 19 years old. As I was called away to go with my son, I shook his hand and said "thank you for serving." He simply nodding to me.
The next day, I was speaking with a colleague of mine, and the conversation came around to politics and her hometown of Montclair, N.J. We discussed a show that we had both seen several months back on one of the TV news magazine (20/20?) wherein they compared Montclair with a town in Kansas. The comparison dealt with political views. They picked Montclair for its largely liberal population, and the community in Kansas for its conservative population.
In the conversation, my friend told me how at this past 4th of July parade in her town the residents refused to clap for passing soldiers, including Viet Nam Vets, yet cheered wildy as a small group of protesters passed by with signs imploring the US to "Get Out Of Iraq."
She and I marveled at the inability of liberals to perceive the importance of our military, and to perceive the amount of sacrifice it takes to become a member of the armed services. And we both declared our own inability to understand how liberals could detest our soldiers so much, and how they see red when it comes to anything military. The only decent thing we could agree on was that liberals lack any sense of common sense, and how they are driven by emotions and not reality.
While this may be a fair assessment, it does nothing to bridge the divide between liberals and conservatives nowadays. In fact, it only points out how futile it is to try to bridge that gap, because liberals today refuse to appreciate or even allow views different than their own. Some of them say they support the troops, but that's like saying you support the right to choose, as you blow up an abortion clinic. Their actions speak far louder than their words (and deeds). They get so caught up in their emotional outrage over everything, that logic for them ceases to exist.
And so it is true with their view of veterans. I doubt many liberals would have thanked that WWII vet I spoke with in the hospital. Indeed, I doubt many of them even remembered it was Veteran's Day. And that is sad. Because, regardless of your views of the military, the war in Iraq, or the war on terror, an inability to appreciate what our uniformed men and women do, and have done, for us is confounding to me. And I see no change on that side coming any time soon.
God Bless our Veterans.
posted by KinnelonGOP | 8:20 PM
1 Comments:
And all conservatives....
It is very disappointing you paint with such a wide brush. The World Wars were actually in defense of country. The current police action -- the present occupation of the formerly-sovereign nation of Iraq after our invasion -- is not a war. No such congressional declaration has been made.
I very much doubt the crowd booed the soldiers and only cheered the protesters. Both cheering and booing of both groups is the more likely reality. But since your opinion justifies the idea of booing protesters (just as much real Americans, deserving of our praise as soldiers are), you can understand that others' opinions justify booing soldiers.
Or in the little Conservative microcosm are you not allowed to be American and hold dissenting views and express them, too?
Apparently, with Alberto Gonzales speech today, it is okay to claim enforcing the FISA laws and thus charging George Bush for violating them by listening in to domestic telephone calls without a court order or warrant is to be Anti-American. It is the height of irony that upholding the Constitution is now Anti-American in the Conservative U.S.
Does it feel good to have your political inclination (in your case conservative, in my case liberal) painted with a broad brush stroke?
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