This evening after work, I went into a grocery store to buy something. It’s a small, nice place and just feels local when you walk in. The cashiers are all young, school aged girls with nametags that tell you who they are. Complete with hand drawn hearts and smiley faces on them. They’re always friendly, polite and respectful and I appreciate that. As I checked out, I asked the young lady if she goes to church. When she said yes and told me where she goes, I said to her that she could go to any church she wanted to. I mentioned that she could choose any denomination or faith she wanted without any real retribution or recrimination from anyone that mattered. She looked puzzled and I told her that she could thank a Veteran for that freedom. I honestly don’t think she really understood that. What a shame that many of our young people (and older people for that matter) can’t really appreciate what it means to live in an open and free society. That the very freedoms they take for granted were bought with a price. Men and women throughout our nation’s history have sacrificed their own personal freedom, their psychological well being and their lives for their fellow countrymen. How can anyone not be grateful and thankful that there are those who would do such a thing for them? I believe that this too is grace.
Some questions I’d like to ask are:
Like English as your primary language?
Like the church of your choice?
Like the right to vote?
Like to know that crooked politicians can be held accountable for their actions?
Like the freedom speech?
Like to just get in your car and drive wherever you please, when you please?
Like to decide whether you're gonna work a particular job or not?
Like being able to live wherever you want?
Like the freedom to own a gun?
Like the freedom to have as many kids as you want?
Like having ultimate say in where or how your children will be educated?
I suspect you can come up with a few other freedoms, that are so easily taken for granted, if you think about it.
The odd thing about most vets is that they don’t exalt themselves. They’re not braggarts. They served their country selflessly and didn’t ask for anything in return. Things like Honor, Duty, Commitment and the understanding that someone had to do it are enough for them. These people are quiet heroes and they deserve our respect and admiration. If you know someone that has served this great nation in that capacity, please tell them you appreciate it. Thank them for their sacrifice and service.
Freedom. What a great thing this is. Be thankful for it.
Thank a Veteran for it.
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4 comments:
I agree that veterans should be appreciated and they really perform an invaluable service to this country.
However, I would stop short of attributing every freedom we have to the military.
The Framers of the Constitution, in fact, recognized the inherent tendency of militaries to seize power wherever possible, and made perfectly sure that our own armed forces were answerable to a solidly civilian chain of command.
There is a reason that the Commander-in-Chief is an elected official and not a career soldier.
Sometimes, as in the Clinton administration, this has worked out well. Clinton knew when to listen to his generals and when to restrain them, and his foreign policy proceeded very well.
President Bush, on the other hand, disregarded much good advice, gave in to childish desires to blow things up, and downplayed incidences like Abu Ghraib and Haditha.
Obama has already told Tommy Franks that he's going to withdraw our troops from Iraq whether the military likes it or not, and I think he's right to do that.
For that matter, we did not have a standing military for a large part of our history.
Without a military, we could not fend off foreign threats to our liberty. The military, however, is not the only guarantor of freedom, and sometimes must be guarded against.
Hey, I just wanted to stop by here again.
I left a comment similar to this on another person's page and they seemed to take issue with it, so I just wanted to say that if I offended you in any way I'm sorry.
A soldier has no control over where his Commander-in-Chief orders him to go, and the vast majority of our men and women in uniform are good people.
What I wrote was simply my own reflection on the nature of liberty and on the different ways it has been safeguarded.
It seems from your site that you're a veteran, and I don't in any way mean to denigrate the sacrifices that you and others have made.
I hope that clarifies things in case you were upset by what I said.
Well, it has not been my intent to attribute every freedom we have as Americans to our Armed Forces. However, the fact that you are an American and not a British citizen is directly attributable to the Armed Forces of this American nation, and that is just the beginning.
Though there have been military revolutions in many other counties on this planet, that has never happened here, with the exception of the Civil War. That in itself wasn't a military coup in fact. It was, in my estimation, a desire by southern states to be recognized as a legitimate government, backed up by military power. Equal time with the northern states. Sadly, there was more blood spilled by brothers in this war than in all other armed conflicts that this country has been involved with.
Of the 44 presidents that have been elected, only 7 have had no military service. The other 37 have either served on active duty or held offices that supported the military in some capacity. Those that you can most probably relate to that have never served this country in that capacity are Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. In contrast, Dwight Eisenhower was a career soldier and was elected twice as the president of the United States. Theodore Roosevelt was a Medal of Honor recipient and served in the Spanish-American War. A brief look at the history of our nations presidents will make it clear in your mind the foundations of military leadership that most of them grew on.
Though you may not agree with some of the decisions that President Bush has made in the last 8 years, neither you or I have been privy to all the circumstances involving those decisions. To say that "he gave into childish desires to blow things up" is in itself childish. What saddens me is how easily the populace of this country is swayed by the biased, liberal, anti-government tripe that the media dishes out as the truth. It's really easy to sit in the chair at home and quarterback the game. Considerably more difficult to be on the point of the spear, so to speak.
The military is obviously not the only grantor of the freedoms we enjoy in this country. They are however the guardians of that freedom and have, in times past under the direction of our executive and legislative bodies, delivered those freedoms to our doorsteps.
As for president elect Obama, guess we'll all just have to see how things turn out. It's easy to promise the world, maybe not so easy to deliver it. Maybe he will see that running this country and being the pillar of democracy in this wide world are a little more complex than he imagined them to be.
That all being said, it has not been my intent bring any anguish into your existance. I'm just freely expressing my thoughts on your post and mean no harm. What would our country be without the free exchange of ideas and opinions?
I feel the same way.
It just occurred to me after the first comment that antagonizing a veteran on Veterans' Day probably wasn't the most courteous thing to do.
And while there has never been a military coup in this country, there was an attempt shortly after the revolution. I do not mean to say that there is some inherent quality in our military that makes it less desirable, but rather that there is an inherent quality in all militaries that we must be wary of.
And it's interesting you brought up Eisenhower, who coined the term "military-industrial complex" and was on of the leading proponents of robust civilian power.
As for presidents who've served, you're right on that, though President Bush effectively avoided any real military commitment.
It's also worth noting that Colin Powell, the only member of the Bush Administration to have ever seen combat, was also the only one who seriously raised objections over Iraq.
We're obviously not going to agree on this, but, as you said, that is our right and, I think, our responsibility.
You certainly do know your facts and can make a fine argument.
I'm aware how silly it must seem for you tp hear me speak about military issues, given your service and my lack thereof.
This is just what I've observed, my opinion, and obviously I must stick by my own views.
We are of one mind on something, though, and that's that the ideals the military was created to defend are worth protecting.
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