Not quite...
The pet peeve of the day is the phrase: They died so we could be free.
A friend of mine likes to send out jingoistic and conservative-type email forwards. Today it was a Memorial Day (a little early) theme, with cartoons, etc., telling us to respect our veterans. Fine and dandy. I'm from a military family. I think veterans need all the respect any citizen can give to them. They are thrown into harms way and discarded when they get broken (Walter Reed, anyone?).
But what really annoyed the crap out of me, though, was the phrase (over and over again), "They gave up their lives for our freedom!"
Really? They did? When was this? Cause I only recall one time veterans gave up their lives for America's freedom, and that was 235 years ago. We already have freedom. For the benefit of the doubt, I will assume they mean liberty. If so, when was the last time our liberty was threatened? World War II? Sure wasn't the Korean War; that ended in stalemate and a nuclear-armed North Korea. Wasn't Vietnam; after fighting through two decades, they went communist anyway and we're all doing just fine. Grenada? I don't think anyone even remembers that one. The Persian Gulf War? Well, we gave our lives for Kuwait's freedom, sure. Bosnia? Again, someone else's freedom. The Afghan and Iraqi 'Wars?' Well, it made us less safe in that it increased the amount of terrorists that hate us; neither respective gov't was poised to invade our country anytime soon; and and again we gave others their freedom. So, please...oh, pretty please, can people stop the misguided hero worship? Not that their not heroes...just that the worship is aimed at the wrong reason.
Oh, but it gets sillier! In her forwarded mish-mash of stuff was a list that went "It was the veteran not the _______ that gave us ______." For example, "It was the veteran, not the preacher, who gave us freedom of religion." Yes, that statement alone is wrong in a couple ways. I'm pretty sure it was a large congress of politicians and philosophers who gave us that one. The best was, "It was the veteran, not the politician who gave us the right to vote." Yes, because the suffragists did nothing. The people who gave THEIR lives for the right to vote? Nothing for them, sorry.
So this Memorial Day (next month!?), I will remember the veterans of the wars that did give us these things, however extremely indirectly. And I will remember the Veterans who died in every battle since. But not for the wrong reasons.
A friend of mine likes to send out jingoistic and conservative-type email forwards. Today it was a Memorial Day (a little early) theme, with cartoons, etc., telling us to respect our veterans. Fine and dandy. I'm from a military family. I think veterans need all the respect any citizen can give to them. They are thrown into harms way and discarded when they get broken (Walter Reed, anyone?).
But what really annoyed the crap out of me, though, was the phrase (over and over again), "They gave up their lives for our freedom!"
Really? They did? When was this? Cause I only recall one time veterans gave up their lives for America's freedom, and that was 235 years ago. We already have freedom. For the benefit of the doubt, I will assume they mean liberty. If so, when was the last time our liberty was threatened? World War II? Sure wasn't the Korean War; that ended in stalemate and a nuclear-armed North Korea. Wasn't Vietnam; after fighting through two decades, they went communist anyway and we're all doing just fine. Grenada? I don't think anyone even remembers that one. The Persian Gulf War? Well, we gave our lives for Kuwait's freedom, sure. Bosnia? Again, someone else's freedom. The Afghan and Iraqi 'Wars?' Well, it made us less safe in that it increased the amount of terrorists that hate us; neither respective gov't was poised to invade our country anytime soon; and and again we gave others their freedom. So, please...oh, pretty please, can people stop the misguided hero worship? Not that their not heroes...just that the worship is aimed at the wrong reason.
Oh, but it gets sillier! In her forwarded mish-mash of stuff was a list that went "It was the veteran not the _______ that gave us ______." For example, "It was the veteran, not the preacher, who gave us freedom of religion." Yes, that statement alone is wrong in a couple ways. I'm pretty sure it was a large congress of politicians and philosophers who gave us that one. The best was, "It was the veteran, not the politician who gave us the right to vote." Yes, because the suffragists did nothing. The people who gave THEIR lives for the right to vote? Nothing for them, sorry.
So this Memorial Day (next month!?), I will remember the veterans of the wars that did give us these things, however extremely indirectly. And I will remember the Veterans who died in every battle since. But not for the wrong reasons.