VETERANS DAY, 2008

What we ask of our fighting men and women in the military is quite unbelievable.. We ask them to give up their jobs, often their freedoms, their families, and most of all, their lives. We ask them to see things that we don't want to see. We ask them to fight people that most Americans don't even know of.. We request of them to fight to keep us free.. While we work and go to school, and eat fine foods and drink fancy wines, they sleep under the stars in foreign dirt thinking of their wives and husbands, and their children and parents, back home..
The consequences of their actions have repercussions throughout the world, and for all of history.
Little events in history can often start wars.. Seemingly inconsequential steps in history can create firestorms on the globe. In 1914, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the spark that lit the powder keg. World War II was "over there" until Japan struck Pearl Harbor..And even 9/11 brought foreign problems to the shores of the United States. And once again, since 2001, two wars later, we have asked monumental tasks of our soldiers..
But there is a disconnect, in my opinion. What happens "there" seems to stay there. We go on with our lives, we go on with our problems.. we have our economic crisis, we have our health care problems.. car problems.. high food prices. They are in danger 24/7 and we often worry about things that don't matter..
We truly do ask more of our soldiers than we even know..
As I read about the horrors at Buchenwald today, I thought: This could have been. We stopped the horrid, we ended the horrible. We fought a bloody battle over "there" to ensure that Adolf Hitler's wrath wouldn't spread further, and to ensure that Japan wouldn't hit the United States again.. In Vietnam, though deplored by historians, a war was waged over the principles of American freedom versus Communism. Old theories of Eisenhower held as gospel by many in the military.. And now, our wars are being waged for various reasons. History will work out the real purposes for our warfare...
But in the process, today and now, we are asking our soldiers to fight so we don't have to.. to wage war there so it's not here.. to keep the world steady.. On this Veterans Day 2008.. I offer a hope and prayer that one day we don't have to ask soldiers to wage war.. But reality facing our future shows that the military will need to stay vigilant, even if Americans expect peace in coming years..

Labels: military, War