One of the things that is still great in this country of ours is our ability and rights to stand up front and scream to the world our individual thoughts and opinions. For in no other country in the world have so many died so that so few can stand up and say what a lousy government we have. Maybe this is one form of retribution we have for voting for the people we did.
If you go back to the Revolution there were many prominent people who thought the Revolution was the wrong way to go, yet they did agree with the principles, which were being oppressed. Some moved away, some sided either way. However, the war and the strife were felt mostly by the peons, the lowly, the poor and the uneducated. But then again if you look at the settling of this country and those who blazed the trails and headed West for a better life, you'll find that it was not the rich, but the down and outs, the ones looking for an Eden, for an easier and better life.
Now we are in a War with Iraq, a war I feel we should not be in, a war which is needless and silly. However, we have a President who thinks otherwise, a President we elected, and please spare me the Florida bit. He is our President, he is our leader, and he did select and pick the people who are to a certain extent running this country. Of course, he picked people who for the most part think or will carry out his thoughts.
However, it is hell on a mother and father who have just lost their pride and joy, their only son or daughter in the fighting to see a rally of their friends and neighbors who are booing and saying we should not be there. Actions, which alienate friends and relatives, actions that hurt and cut deep into the parents and loved ones of someone who fell.
But! Yes, but. They, too, have a right to say what they think and express their feelings. A lot of them are followers who think they must always have a cause, a just cause with which to carry on or wage a war of words against the present rulers and leaders.
Here in this town there is one man who for the past number of years has continually taken the city to task, regardless of what the city does, good bad or idiotic, he takes them to task. He is for conservation, he is for a large greenway, but he does not like where it is run and how it is constructed. It is not done to his ideals and expectations. Yet he has never run for office, nor has he done more, that I know of, than to say a few words in someone's behalf.
Whether it is a parking garage or a greenway, or soccer field for the youth, he will and does take exception to whatever and however it is done. So as a result, most folks in town see his name, laugh and go about their business. Then he is a bellwether, he is a staunch advocate and he does use his inalienable rights.
When your butt is dragging and three of your friends were just blown apart, and you get a chance to relax for a few hours, step back from the battle, the battle which is also for your life, and you hear and see where these people are protesting, and acting like real meatheads, you're durn right it hurts. It cuts to the quick, for here you are serving your country, right or wrong it is my country and their country, and they are saying how wrong what I am doing is? Remember Jane Fonda? Hanoi Jane and many other protestors who got a lot of ink from their stardom? They were rich, showed up at the rally in a limo, and addressed the cameras and reporters, then faded back to a large suite. And the poor, wet and tired, jungle-rotting young GI was doing what he had been ordered sees it. You're durned right it has an affect on you.
Is it right or is it wrong? It is our way, this is the United States. We always have had protestors, we will always have protestors, and yes their voice is heard, even is it is just a whisper. Yes, it does have a negative effect on the military in the field trying to win a war, that even they may not believe in, but they are sworn to carry out the orders given to them. And some of those orders are damn stupid.
Hopefully my rambling and grousing will rile you up, make you think, make you speak out. Good, for my opinions I do have, right or wrong, biased or correct. They are what I think. Now you get out the old number two and shoot me down. It is the American way.
© Tom (tomWYO@aol.com))
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