Face it, war is fought on the backs of our brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, babysitters, high school sweethearts, moms, dads, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, ...with courage, with conviction, with loyalty and dedication and faith in our country.I was a US Army soldier during the Vietnam War. A time when the draft compelled men to service in Vietnam for a year based on a magic number. So many men, sent to die, in a country which did not invite us to intervene-my cousin, a boyfriend, classmates, -
On Memorial Day I remember all the men I worked with in Europe, boy soldiers, sent to Vietnam, good boys not always believing in the war but believing in our country.
It is what compels young men and women to join today-believing in the United States. Young adults fight our wars for us. Mostly young and poor, or without the means to pay for college or learn a trade-these are the hopeful -signing up to have a shot at something more than a job at Wal-Mart or 7-11.
It is not the rich, educated, politically connected fighting our wars for us. Dick Cheney, Rumsfeld, Bush-never saw a day of service to our country-let alone immersion in a foreign country where the very citizens help plant bombs to kills those who believe they are there to protect them.
From a woman's perspective war seems like such a waste. Killing other humans? I wonder when we might have a world that the very idea is so barbaric, so uncivilized, so repulsive, it is only referred to in historic terms?
I think I can speak for women when I say those who go to war are not anonymous bodies-trained and decked out by a political system who considers "casualties" a term, one not to be shown as tangible and physically real-on TV or in the media.
These men and women are our babies. They are our first and second graders, missing teeth, learning to ride a bike-
they are our young adults holding that high school diploma-knowing parents pride float their way to the podium to pick it up.
Those bodies, hidden from the TV cameras, caskets, not acknowledged in the media anymore, as if the killings don't exist, perhaps alluding to the "death toll" as if it were some byproduct of war-
those bodies of dead soldiers-those bodies are still our babies, our family members, those we love so much the hole left in our hearts feels unbearable to carry-
Vietnam was honest.
No the war was a lie-as this war is-predicated on lies from leaders we so badly want to believe have some form of goodness in them for the sake of our children-
but the media was ruthless about ensuring every American knew and could see the price we were paying for the war, Bombings, napalm, body bags, massacres-the media laid it out-bare naked-and it is what shook us-like rag dolls-from our stupor-to say NO MORE-
Today, as we honor the death of so many of our babies, no media, no tv, no newspaper is the conscience of our nation-
none
Americans don't see and feel the pain of war-like a video game-it all seems so pretend-so men and women die each day they die, and thousands of Americans go about their business-did you think about the war yesterday?-last week?. A month ago?
This is not a courageous war-from American citizens at home--almost as if it doesn't exist-unless the death call is at your front door-ringing the bell, standing in uniform-for the last and final news of the your baby-and I am shamed we do not pay attention
to the deaths of our babies-ashamed and anguished.
