Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Mon, Jan 15 2007
Please encourage one wounded soldier
Please go to J.R Salzman's web site and click on the link to his blog (or go directly to his blog—and then send him a note of encouragement.) The rest of us have no right to think of war as a little inconvenience while soldiers on the front lines suffer in ways most of us can only imagine. If you think we're doing the best thing we can do by being there, encourage this soldier. If you don't back the actions the U.S. has taken, encourage him anyway. Or, find someone else to encourage or take care of. And then let our country's leaders know how you feel with your voice, your vote and your pocketbook.
We argue all day about escalation of troops, budget build-ups, offending or retaining this or that ally. We watch political careers carved out by both veterans and non-veterans. What real difference will these things make in the long run? I wonder. I watched people sit in protests and make peace signs and paint flowers on their faces all through the whole Vietnam conflict. It never really changed the workings of the self-perpetuating political machine. But soldiers came home and suffered physically, mentally, socially and spiritually. And it was worse in some ways during that time, because many of them had been drafted into military service.
We have a right to say things about it all and voice our opinions. But we need to stop pretending that our use of free speech is a substitute for sharing the misery of current realities. The more we each accept responsibility for the true costs of war, the less likely we are to see future physical confrontations as an answer to problems and the harder we'll work to find other ways to share the planet. War isn't easy. It isn't supposed to be easy.
posted at: 07:14 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
Please go to J.R Salzman's web site and click on the link to his blog (or go directly to his blog—and then send him a note of encouragement.) The rest of us have no right to think of war as a little inconvenience while soldiers on the front lines suffer in ways most of us can only imagine. If you think we're doing the best thing we can do by being there, encourage this soldier. If you don't back the actions the U.S. has taken, encourage him anyway. Or, find someone else to encourage or take care of. And then let our country's leaders know how you feel with your voice, your vote and your pocketbook.
We argue all day about escalation of troops, budget build-ups, offending or retaining this or that ally. We watch political careers carved out by both veterans and non-veterans. What real difference will these things make in the long run? I wonder. I watched people sit in protests and make peace signs and paint flowers on their faces all through the whole Vietnam conflict. It never really changed the workings of the self-perpetuating political machine. But soldiers came home and suffered physically, mentally, socially and spiritually. And it was worse in some ways during that time, because many of them had been drafted into military service.
We have a right to say things about it all and voice our opinions. But we need to stop pretending that our use of free speech is a substitute for sharing the misery of current realities. The more we each accept responsibility for the true costs of war, the less likely we are to see future physical confrontations as an answer to problems and the harder we'll work to find other ways to share the planet. War isn't easy. It isn't supposed to be easy.
posted at: 07:14 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
