Monday, May 25, 2015

Wishes For A Reverant Memorial Day

Humanity loves warfare. We often thought of war as being a byproduct of the nation state. Today, nation rarely rises against nation and we have about as much mayhem as we have ever had. By and large countries behave. Groups like Isis and Hezbollah and the Taliban...that's another matter.

Coming of age in the seventies I was dismissive of the military. A few of my friends joined the service and the rest of us looked down on them for doing so. We were not anti-military in the Jane Fonda sense of the term but we viewed the service as a vast welfare program. Post-Vietnam youth saw Vietnam veterans as well-intentioned-losers, but losers nonetheless. That might seem like a harsh judgment but the fact is, the military did decline in the 1970's. They couldn't even rescue hostages held by a mob in Iran.

In retrospect, I have to give credit to men like Ronald Reagan, Colin Powell and dare I say it, Oliver North. These men restored the dignity and integrity of the armed forces. I was not on board at the time. To me it was all a bunch of false patriotism. It was all a bunch of hokum. That's not how I see things now.

9/11 instantly changed my worldview. It saddens me that it did not change more people's worldview. If people like Christoper Hitchens could get on board, why couldn't the Michael Moores get on board? It's a question for another time. As with all things Leftist, they are only sympathetic to people who can be used as political pawns. They might not respect servicemen but if disabled vets and wounded warriors can be used to showcase the evils of Cheney et al...

The Millenials are America's stupidest generation with no close competitors. They turned out like lemmings to elect and re-elect a fraudster they knew nothing about and could not be bothered to learn anything about. The torch was passed and they used the torch to commit arson.

Yet, out of America's stupidest generation arose bold and brave and noble Americans who fought with honor in Iran and Afghanistan. Some of these heroes paid the ultimate price. Perhaps more important than their flesh and blood contributions, these gallant warriors brought honor to the homeland. Honor!

Let us hope that we do not lose sight of their contributions.

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