Open letter to all who have fought for freedom.
Today was the 64th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Ever since 9-11-01 I find myself feeling cynical every year on December 7th. One swift reaction to the attack on Pearl Harbor, after all, was to round up Japanese-Americans and place them in internment camps. We eventually -- and correctly, in my view -- realized what a shameful betrayal of our nation's beliefs in liberty and justice that reaction was. Yet when 9-11-01 occurred, one of the first reactions was the arrest of thousands of Arab-Americans. Even now not all of those arrested are accounted for. How easily we forget.
At least our cause was just in WW II. Not so in Iraq. I find it difficult to believe, now that it has been proven the George W. Bush administration lied its way into going to war in Iraq, that there is still no movement to impeach him. And as for Shrub's repeated statement that "We do not torture," it speaks volumes about his administration and contemporary society that the mantra is being chanted at all.
Not all the members of the generation that fought WW II are dead yet. Indeed, not all who were prisoners of war during WW II are dead. Locked away in concentration camps, tortured no matter how White House attorneys now define it -- I wonder how they feel, after risking their lives and enduring unspeakable suffering, when they see the photographs from Abu Graib and hear our President say over and over that we do not torture.
Joseph McCarthy would call me a traitor and a communist for writing this journal entry, if he still lived and heard about it. White House goons would call me unpatriotic and a terrorist sympathizer, were any of them to read this journal entry.
But I cannot yet be made to vanish for writing this. I still live in a nation that recognizes a right to freedom of speech, God and the framers of the Constitution be praised -- for however long that right lasts. With a poll last year finding that something like three-fourths of Americans believe the First Amendment is excessively permissive, it seems probable that the days of free speech are numbered. I wonder how our surviving members of the WW II generation feel about that, too.
For however long it lasts, though, the right to freedom of speech is one reason I can still take pride in my country. To all the men and women throughout the history of the United States who have suffered and died to make that freedom possible:
Thank you, with all my heart.
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EDIT:
axiomatic1 brought to my attention that this journal entry reads as if I believe all the wars the United States has fought were about freedom of speech, to some extent or other. Please forgive me for that. By the time I had the chance to write a journal entry today, I was already mentally exhausted. I didn't translate what was in my mind and heart into words as well as I would have liked.
What I really wanted to say is that I'm grateful to all the men and women who have served in our armed forces, especially those who served in wartime. They have all risked their lives to protect our nation's freedom and all the rights and privileges our Constitution is meant to guarantee to us. I'm just so sorry to see so much of what they believed in and fought for betrayed by the George W. Bush administration, and even many of their civilian fellow citizens. :-(
At least our cause was just in WW II. Not so in Iraq. I find it difficult to believe, now that it has been proven the George W. Bush administration lied its way into going to war in Iraq, that there is still no movement to impeach him. And as for Shrub's repeated statement that "We do not torture," it speaks volumes about his administration and contemporary society that the mantra is being chanted at all.
Not all the members of the generation that fought WW II are dead yet. Indeed, not all who were prisoners of war during WW II are dead. Locked away in concentration camps, tortured no matter how White House attorneys now define it -- I wonder how they feel, after risking their lives and enduring unspeakable suffering, when they see the photographs from Abu Graib and hear our President say over and over that we do not torture.
Joseph McCarthy would call me a traitor and a communist for writing this journal entry, if he still lived and heard about it. White House goons would call me unpatriotic and a terrorist sympathizer, were any of them to read this journal entry.
But I cannot yet be made to vanish for writing this. I still live in a nation that recognizes a right to freedom of speech, God and the framers of the Constitution be praised -- for however long that right lasts. With a poll last year finding that something like three-fourths of Americans believe the First Amendment is excessively permissive, it seems probable that the days of free speech are numbered. I wonder how our surviving members of the WW II generation feel about that, too.
For however long it lasts, though, the right to freedom of speech is one reason I can still take pride in my country. To all the men and women throughout the history of the United States who have suffered and died to make that freedom possible:
Thank you, with all my heart.
-------------------------------------------------
EDIT:
axiomatic1 brought to my attention that this journal entry reads as if I believe all the wars the United States has fought were about freedom of speech, to some extent or other. Please forgive me for that. By the time I had the chance to write a journal entry today, I was already mentally exhausted. I didn't translate what was in my mind and heart into words as well as I would have liked.
What I really wanted to say is that I'm grateful to all the men and women who have served in our armed forces, especially those who served in wartime. They have all risked their lives to protect our nation's freedom and all the rights and privileges our Constitution is meant to guarantee to us. I'm just so sorry to see so much of what they believed in and fought for betrayed by the George W. Bush administration, and even many of their civilian fellow citizens. :-(