Saturday, January 12, 2013
"Worth.............................."
About eight-o’clock this morning on my way to an appointment for an oil-change, I stopped at the local McDonald’s for a senior coffee; but, with the drive-thru being at a stand-still for some reason, purchasing it inside seemed a better option. An older man was the only one in front of me, the markings on his ball cap identifying him as a “former” Marine; and when I touched his shoulder to get his attention, to express my gratitude for his service, he turned to look me in the eye. “Thanks;” he replied, “but I’m afraid it was all for nothing.” His words surprised me. My inquiry, though, brought forth passionate explanation. Saipan and the Pacific counted for zilch, in his opinion, “by the time Congress and this s.o.b. in the White House get through with what they’re doing to this country!” He got my agreement, although not brought forth as heatedly as his sentiments. Further mention concerning his respect for Hillary being “the only one up there in Washington with enough sense to handle our affairs” revealed his probable political alliance as with the Democrat Party. He was one of “them”. I paid for his breakfast nonetheless, having read a few books about Saipan and what our service men endured in the Pacific back in the 40s. He had my respect even if our voter registrations fell on opposite sides of the fence. Our young men, from the beginning, and, nowadays, our women as well, offer their lives for no more than those basic principles upon which this nation was founded. Those seven red stripes in our flag represent a lot of blood shed along the way to insure, not just our freedom, but also our identity as a body of people locked together in the belief that, “under God”, we are one. Somewhere the latter has been lost and here we are. God save us……
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
More and more, the sacrifice of veterans becomes clearer and more appreciated. What kind of our guts does it take to deliberately put yourself in harms way for the sake of others? I wish I could speak to my dad about it and thank him.
ReplyDeleteIt's one thing to put your life on the line for the basic foundations that this country was birthed upon; and another to send my son, my grandson, my granddaughter...into harm's way for, seemingly, people sitting in high places with very little or no concern at all for the constitution. Those who fought in WWII are watching D.C. take us even farther into debt and strip us of basic liberties while filling their own pockets with our money....
ReplyDeleteYes, I often think of the poor mom's and dad's way back in WWI and WWII (and before) who must have been worried sick. For some reason, I think we often think that people back then were too tough for those kinds of emotions but, after going through many archives, I know that they cried the same tears as we do today.
ReplyDeleteThough we do hear a lot about your politics down south, I think the world at large is in a sorry state. I have a hard time putting too much faith in any politicians whatever side they're on or country they're from but I also do not want their job.
We have a tendency to paint a rosy picture of the good old days and like everyone else, I think of them as so much simpler and better. After digging around in history, it's easy to see that it wasn't all good though and that we ended up having to sacrifice some things to benefit others. For example, after doing some reading about the French Revolution, its quite understandable that something had to happen; the rich were so very rich while the poor were so very very poor and being taxed literally to death.
Any way you slice it, all parties are guilty of making a mess of things. I agree about not wanting to see young folks being sent to war for reasons that often appear to be based on greed and power.
I've been watching docs and movies lately about WWII from different perspectives and finding it quite fascinating, disturbing and down-right scary at times. Though there's some debate of the validity of the Odessa, I found the Odessa File to be interesting, especially discovering that the upper-echelon Nazi got away with more than the shirts on their backs. They were apparently loaded and continued to carry on big business under new identities. Must have been frustrating for the war vets.
The rich will always be rich, Mich. Tax them and they just pass the expenditure on down to me and you. As far as the poor, I'm all for helping any man down on his luck; but it seems to me that we are financing a free ride for a bunch of people out for a free ride. My wife and I survive on an income currently listed as borderline poverty. I still work in order to give us money to spoil my grandkids. Then I read of what the government extends to illegals, those who could but won't work, and Hollywood in a bill supposedly passed to keep my taxes from going up, and it wasn't for knowing my own welfare is held in his hands, it would be easy to develop anger. His Spirit gives me peace and I just take it a day at time....
DeleteI do hear ya Jim.
ReplyDelete