Readers, I'm really struggling today to find the right words and sentiments to express the inconceivable debt we owe to our fallen soldiers on Memorial Day (and all other days). It took me a while to put my finger on what was making it so difficult... and then I knew what was blocking me up.
Anger.
I look at these graves, I think of the loss of countless lives, and I think of the immeasurable sacrifice made by these men and women in hopes of creating and sustaining a great nation. I think of the need for every American to work to honor that sacrifice, and to try be worthy of the fallen's great gift to the living.
And then I think of "politics as usual."
Smug, dishonest, divisive, and deceitful. Politicians who say "no budget is needed" while enjoying taxpayer funded jets, expense accounts, and gold-plated pensions. Political ads showing old people being thrown off a cliff, to scare voters into supporting unsustainable debt. Politicians who lie as easily as they breathe, and who try to turn American against American by sowing the seeds of class envy, racial division, sexual antagonism, and religious hatred.
This is not what our best and bravest died for. And "politics as usual" shouldn't be accepted as a shrug-it-off cliché...it should be treated as what it is: an unspeakable and unacceptable obscenity.
Although there's seemingly no end to the millions, billions, and trillions being wasted in Washington DC, I'd like to suggest one new expenditure: a fleet of busses which would carry every politician in Washington, up to and including the president, to Arlington Cemetery each morning for five minutes of silence.
Five minutes for them to reflect on courage, honor, and selflessness. And especially how to make their words and deeds honor our dead instead of staining their memories.
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Wonderful post. Thanks, Stilton.
ReplyDeleteSamuel Adams: The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.
ReplyDeleteFrederick Douglass: Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue till they have resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they suppress.
Sir Winston Churchill: Still, if you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed, if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not so costly, you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance for survival. There may be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no chance of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves.
- Rose, from Texas
Stilton... I don't think it would make any difference if they had to face those graves every day. The politicians of the Democratic Party have completely gone over to the idea that the ends justify the means. "We do what we can, because we must." They're uninterested in cooperation and seem to have convinced themselves that setting aside their honesty, integrity and even their cherished ideals will work as long as there's no one left to oppose them. You'd think the more Liberals would see that the Democrats are accepting things like censorship, misogyny, warfare and violation of Constitutional rights, but they spend so much time in front of the TV watching MSNBC they have lost the ability to think for themselves.
ReplyDeleteThey would just waste that five minutes and charge us for it.
ReplyDeleteI think you mean 500 some odd limos, not busses.
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect.
@Anon--Agree totally it would be wasted on the liberals and progressives because for such a sacred site to move your soul you must still be in possession of said soul. The liberals and progressives in congress have sold their souls to the socialists and communists. And most of the Republican party have sold their souls to the Devil in an attempt to get reelected. If there were any politicians with souls they would be kicking and screaming at the destruction of our great nation and the shredding of our constitution.
ReplyDeleteAlso all those brave men and woman over the past 236 years that died for our country died believing that man is generally by nature good...that is the only way our republic can stand...if the people are basically good and decent, I am afraid that those days are at an end. If they weren't at an end us right-wing bible thumping gun toting conservative wack-jobs wouldn't be the only ones standing up to the current regime. And we also wouldn't have the director of homeland security profiling our brave soldiers and veterans as terrorism risks.
The President of our country, historically, is supposed to be the most patriotic and selfless of our leaders...and we get this buffoon Odimnal who actually apologizes to our enemies while insulting our allies and having socialists and communists as advisors.
Yes WE the voters need to reflect on all those brave sons and daughters, husbands and wives, brothers and sisters that stood up for our country, our constitution and or way of life and paid the ultimate sacrifice. WE the voters need to get the left-wing progressives and the rest of the constitution shredding Legislature and Administration out of office and put in new people that will guide this country back to its roots of personal freedom and limited government!
I see a revolution coming to this country and we can either watch our glorious country die an pathetic death or we can stand up peacefully and demand that the current crop of soulless bastards resign from their posts...we can start flooding the Command-in-Corruption Obama, and the other worst offenders of our country; Pelosi Reid; etc with petitions demanding that they resign.
Today I shall just contemplate the endless rows of graves at all the military cemeteries I have visited, which are many, from the very center of my city, to Arlington, and even to Normandy. And reserve the anger for tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteAmen.
ReplyDelete@Rose- Great quotations.
ReplyDelete@Robert- "500 limousines." Funny and painfully true at the same time.
@Anonymous & Dave- I'm afraid I agree with both of you; I don't think the Dems (or enough Republicans) would learn anything in that cemetery. Like Barack Obama, who felt a jolly "shout out" to a political friend was more important than the deaths of our troops at Fort Hood, they see our service people as meaningless cannon fodder. And I believe that their political souls are beyond redemption.
@Jim Hlavac- Having vented, I'm also going to try to put my anger aside for the rest of the day. Secure in the knowledge that it will still be there tomorrow.
We honor them best by preserving what they died for. The cost is not the issue. The will to pay it is.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Rose for reminding me to beware "the artifices of false and designing men". How sad that we are written off as racists for warning our countrymen of the modern truth of that statement.
Amen!
ReplyDeleteVery sad to say, but, facing those graves would not make a difference in politics. From what I've been seeing, most politicians would most likely appear each morning wearing tap shoes, top hat, as they twirl their walking canes while dancing through grave markers, all of which BTW, were paid for by you, me, and the dead soldiers... If you've ever witnessed first hand, after a natural disaster... The real disaster is that which happens when the money mongers move in and take advantage of those who've already lost everything. Many Americans work and slave their lives away only to realize, the very government we all worked to support, are the very people that turn their backs on us when we are in need.
ReplyDeleteThe vicious games people play to intimidate those they consider lower class have become the norm...
And yes, fear is the tool they use to keep quiet what's already known. It makes the politicians strategies seem more unique and less offensive in their own eyes if we simply keep quiet. The bullying tactics which some of us have become accustomed to, have gotten way out of hand. If you are lucky enough to have a great job with benefits or even lucky enough to do what you love most for a living, please remember, you may be lucky at the moment, but when the almighty money mongers finish with pillaging all of your neighbors, you may be next on the list!
I truly admire the courage of the men and women who in spite of everything I just pointed out, fight to save what is supposed to be yours and mine too...Unfortunately, I see our country headed into a downward spiral as the freedom and justice for all has instead become a battle of the most powerful and elite. As the powerful are now holding one huge high tech gun pointed at the heads of the weaker and poorer. As a result, I see problems for our defense department in the future when many Americans would rather be shot and relieved of their miseries than to fight for the Benefits of a nation that thrives on corruption. I will now partake in a few moments of silence for all of humanity and pray for the souls of all who continue to ignore the obvious...
Thank you for stating what so many of us feel. I pray for some change to come in our leadership's hearts and minds soon! Get registered, be ready, do the research, and vote!!!!
ReplyDeleteFriends, you have already said all that needs to be said. I will only further advise, enlarging slightly on JimH's comment, that if you ever do get a chance to visit the big American cemetery above Omaha Beach in Normandy, by all means do so. Walk through the temple at the entrance, turn left and look at all those graves. When you've recovered sufficiently, walk down the berm at the far end and look over. The view is breathtaking. When you have your breath back, walk down to the beach where the landings took place and take a look back, just to get a vague sense of what they faced.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds odd, but it is a sublime and uplifting experience.
And that's just one American cemetery on one American battlefield among all those scattered around the world.
Remember.
I do expect that someone, somewhere will attempt to hide this page somehow... Before it is too late I would like to say;"Please research the Bluebeam project" I am so confused...I truly believe I have been a test subject in this crazy scheme. While researching, Please keep an open mind as to who may be invading your privacy as we speak. Also, please look at all of the different versions that appear on youtube... Many views, still pretty much the same. There is no way to explain the urgency of man kinds attention to these details. Wake up America and smell what is nothing close to roses!!!
ReplyDelete@Anonymous(above)- I'd never heard of the "Bluebeam Project" but googled it, and can't say that I'm impressed (and I'm not controlled by anyone - honest). For those who may not know, the "Bluebeam Project" is a conspiracy theory suggesting that NASA and others will attempt to use technology to convince the world of a Second Coming (actually working in league with the Antichrist), in order to bring down the world's religions and subjugate its people. The details of this conspiracy are virtually identical to those which Gene Roddenberry wrote into a script for a Star Trek feature film which was never made.
ReplyDeleteAnonymous, I have enough worries about threats to our society that are obvious without worrying about conspiracies, so please don't post about this here (go to Coast-to-Coast AM - they LOVE this stuff). If you do post about this here, I'll nuke your comment not because I'm part of a conspiracy, but because we've got more urgent business on this site. And frankly, I'd have nuked your comment this time but I didn't want to add any fuel to your conspiracy fire.
I promise, though, that if a giant holographic prophet appears in the sky anytime soon, I'll reconsider my position. Fair enough?
Good call, Stilt - with documented tax cheats, socialists, terrorist associates using union goons, intimidation and outright voter fraud to corrupt and control this fine country, we don't need any hokey conspiracies to distract us..
ReplyDeleteInteresting that you brought up "Project Bluebeam" as I too believe I was a victim of circumstance. While researching what I had originally thought to be a case of Cyberstalking, I ran across information on Project Bluebeam... It was the only logical explanation in defining what was happening to me at that time. It was an eye opening experience to say the least. Very much like being in a Sci-Fi movie only I was the only one that it was happening to. This occurred just after the switch over from analog to digital TV. I am sure that I am only one of thousands who have been subjected to these cruel and sick mind games that are being played on unsuspecting citizens. If it hasn't happened to you yet, you may wish to do a bit of research concerning the subject, otherwise you may find yourself sitting in a sanitarium of sorts...When you see a holographic image of white doves appear over your back patio after dark, followed by fireworks and a dance band resembling short circuits hanging out at the local marina... It's pretty exciting at first, but... in the days and nights to follow it becomes one great big nightmare...Phone tapping,being followed by an entourage of cars following you in v shaped formation. Unsettling phone calls from friends who claim they never called you. Feeling as if it is Judgement day and you are first up in the hotseat...Not so cool as the games are designed to make one suicidal at least.
ReplyDeleteIf you haven't read about it, I strongly advise that you do.
@Anonymous (Above)- Okay, I was going to nuke your post, but I left it because I think you're actually joking ("a dance band resembling short circuits hanging out at the local marina"?)
ReplyDeleteThe things you've described could not possibly be caused by digital television signals. They're caused by fluoridated water.