I know I haven't posted anything in quite some time. My time has been consumed elsewhere, but I find I often think, "I should write about that and post it on the blog". Hopefully I will find more time to do so.
Today being Memorial Day, my mind has really been on our service men and women. I know that Memorial Day is a day to honor those who have given their lives for our country, but I find that I also think a lot about our active duty service members as well.
I was thinking today about just how many men have laid down their lives for our country. I started adding with the Revolutionary War and ended with the current numbers for Afghanistan. The number was staggering. It really made me sit back and think. That number represents a significant loss of life. In the case of World War II, a quarter of that generation was lost!
I am also reminded that our Armed Forces are volunteer. Yes, we have had drafts in the past. However, generally speaking, we have a volunteer Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. To think that there are men and women who love our country enough to willingly die makes me appreciate their sacrifice even more. These people chose to put themselves in harm's way. That is something I can't ignore.
When I complain about something happening in the political arena without fear that I'll be thrown into jail; when I worship in my chosen house of worship without fear that I'll be killed for believing as I do; when I move about my hometown freely at any time of the day or night with no fear that I'll be stopped and/or detained....I can't help but think of those who have made all of this possible for me. I live comfortably because they chose to live in discomfort. They chose to leave their families, miss holidays, miss births and graduations, miss funerals and weddings all so we never have to miss these things. They are on foreign soil facing our enemies so we don't have the fight here at home. And many of them have died. Many more will die. Yet, they go.
So, before you take Memorial Day for granted and think it's just an extra paid day off of work, think about what it really means. When you're having your cookout and watching your kids run around the yard playing, laughing and just enjoying life, think about why it is you're enjoying this moment. When you're enjoying the beach, picture for just a moment, just one person who has made the ultimate sacrifice. Many people died so you could live comfortably. They chose to put themselves in harm's way knowing they may die. Remember that.
No, Freedom Isn't Free
CDR Kelly Strong, USCG (ret)
I watched the flag pass by one day.
It fluttered in the breeze.
A young
Marine saluted it,
And then he stood at ease.
I looked at him in
uniform
So young, so tall, so proud,
With hair cut square and eyes
alert
He'd stand out in any crowd.
I thought how many men like him
Had
fallen through the years.
How many died on foreign soil?
How many mothers'
tears?
How many pilots' planes shot down?
How many died at sea?
How
many foxholes were soldiers' graves?
No, freedom isn't free.
I heard
the sound of taps one night,
When everything was still
I listened to the
bugler play
And felt a sudden chill.
I wondered just how many
times
That taps had meant "Amen,"
When a flag had draped a coffin
Of a
brother or a friend.
I thought of all the children,
Of the mothers and the
wives,
Of fathers, sons and husbands
With interrupted lives.
I thought
about a graveyard
At the bottom of the sea
Of unmarked graves in
Arlington.
No, freedom isn't free.
Showing posts with label World War II. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World War II. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Time to Think
Having lost my officemate some months ago, I now have the peace and quiet I require to think. Not to mention I can listen to something other than puerile country music all day. Thus it has been with a sense of relief and quiet expectation that I've turned the radio dial from meaningless prattle about lost love and drinking binges to something a bit more mentally edifying. Thank you, Lord, for NPR, BBC and PRI! My brain is now recovering from the mush caused by the whole country music culture. I swear being forced to endure forty hours a week of country music and the inane DJs on the country music stations dropped my IQ by at least ten points!
The down side to all of this -- if, indeed, one could call it a down side -- is that I spend a lot of time thinking about what's going on in the world. As one would expect, doing so makes me much more mindful of what is going on right in my own backyard and causes me to be a bit more of the activist. I've come to the conclusion that most of the radio programming on other stations exists to lull people into a false sense of security so they won't think about what is going on around them and what needs to be changed.
Lately something that has really weighed heavily on my mind is the vast inequalities in the world. I understand that not everybody can live in a McMansion, drive a Benz and have a vacation home in the south of France, but surely everybody should have access to the very basics. Clean water comes to mind.
Along with these musings on the inequalities of the world, I also start to think about how those with the power often abuse those with no power. Of course, sometimes those with no power rise up and successfully advocate for themselves. Here I think of those protesters involved in the Arab Spring uprisings. But then I'm reminded of those who didn't meet with such stellar results. They didn't get the coverage that the protesters in Lybia got, but one cannot overlook their suffering. My heart goes out to the people of Bahrain, Algeria and Iran. While Lybia, Tunisia and Egypt have seen changes, the people of Bahrain, Algeria and Iran still suffer and die from the brutality of a government with complete control.
And then on January 2nd I learned that Gordon Hirabayashi died at the age of 93. Now I will grant you his story is not as bad as the stories of the people previously mentioned, but it does bring into sharp focus how even our own government abuses its power. Not that any of us find this surprising. However, I will admit that sometimes I forget when I focus on what is happening overseas.
I often wonder how our government can justify what has happened to Japanese-Americans. And why weren't German-Americans rounded up? Or Italian-Americans? Yes, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, but they had allies. They were not exactly engaged in the war all by themselves. I often think it was easy to signal out the Japanese-Americans. After all, they were pretty easy to spot. And it's easy enough to sell the idea of internment when it was the Japanese who actually did the bombing.
What bothers me the most is that the vast majority of the American population supported this! Yes, there were some that opposed the internment, but not very many. Though the reasons were different, this reminds me of how the Native Americans were relocated. Again, a complete lack of understanding and an easy to identify population without a voice had their rights trampled by a greedy, bigoted government.
I wonder: If this were to happen right now, how many would stand up and say, "Not on my watch!" How many people would actually risk their own comfortable existence to advocate for those who's rights are being violated? I would like to think I would be one of those people.
The down side to all of this -- if, indeed, one could call it a down side -- is that I spend a lot of time thinking about what's going on in the world. As one would expect, doing so makes me much more mindful of what is going on right in my own backyard and causes me to be a bit more of the activist. I've come to the conclusion that most of the radio programming on other stations exists to lull people into a false sense of security so they won't think about what is going on around them and what needs to be changed.
Lately something that has really weighed heavily on my mind is the vast inequalities in the world. I understand that not everybody can live in a McMansion, drive a Benz and have a vacation home in the south of France, but surely everybody should have access to the very basics. Clean water comes to mind.
Along with these musings on the inequalities of the world, I also start to think about how those with the power often abuse those with no power. Of course, sometimes those with no power rise up and successfully advocate for themselves. Here I think of those protesters involved in the Arab Spring uprisings. But then I'm reminded of those who didn't meet with such stellar results. They didn't get the coverage that the protesters in Lybia got, but one cannot overlook their suffering. My heart goes out to the people of Bahrain, Algeria and Iran. While Lybia, Tunisia and Egypt have seen changes, the people of Bahrain, Algeria and Iran still suffer and die from the brutality of a government with complete control.
And then on January 2nd I learned that Gordon Hirabayashi died at the age of 93. Now I will grant you his story is not as bad as the stories of the people previously mentioned, but it does bring into sharp focus how even our own government abuses its power. Not that any of us find this surprising. However, I will admit that sometimes I forget when I focus on what is happening overseas.
I often wonder how our government can justify what has happened to Japanese-Americans. And why weren't German-Americans rounded up? Or Italian-Americans? Yes, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, but they had allies. They were not exactly engaged in the war all by themselves. I often think it was easy to signal out the Japanese-Americans. After all, they were pretty easy to spot. And it's easy enough to sell the idea of internment when it was the Japanese who actually did the bombing.
What bothers me the most is that the vast majority of the American population supported this! Yes, there were some that opposed the internment, but not very many. Though the reasons were different, this reminds me of how the Native Americans were relocated. Again, a complete lack of understanding and an easy to identify population without a voice had their rights trampled by a greedy, bigoted government.
I wonder: If this were to happen right now, how many would stand up and say, "Not on my watch!" How many people would actually risk their own comfortable existence to advocate for those who's rights are being violated? I would like to think I would be one of those people.
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