I was born in 1961, which makes me a little young to understand first-hand what our returning Viet Nam vets went through. But this I now understand in my heart- that instead of the understanding and forgiveness they so desperately needed and deserved, they were met with vicious disdain and disrespect for their sacrifices. They were attacked and robbed of what they needed and deserved most, much as some of our brave soliers are experiencing today when they return from Iraq.
Now when I look at someone like the abominable John Kerry, I don't just see a conniving medal-grubbing manipulator who lied about his fellow soldiers to the Senate subcommittee and who has never once recanted or apologised for his false words, (even after his Winter Soldier conspirators were thoroughly discredited). I also see a man who has committed a more henious sin...fomenting a hateful environment which denied the returning soldiers what they needed to heal their hearts and minds. Not only denying them their dignity and self-worth, but creating a mythos of the anti-war protestor which has survived to this day and now stalks our Iraq veterans.
It is absolutely repellant to me that the same people who practically celebrate the intentional snuffing of unborn babies lives can then turn around and shout "baby-killer" to our soldiers. It creates a hateful rage inside I didn't know I was capable of feeling. May God forgive me.
Forgiveness? For what? For going when their country called. For doing their duty honorably. For acting like American soldiers have always acted, before and since Vietnam? No they need no forgivess, but they do need appreciation. You can see that by their reactions when they finally get some, as many did in various parades and such after Desert Storm/Shield, when the nation began to see how shabbily it had treated them. Most of course weren't devastated by that treatment, but it still hurt.
Well thought out and formulated post FRiend. God has mercy for us all.
Well said.
It is they who should forgive us. They did nothing to apologize for. We, collectively, did. We turned our backs on them.
I will not commit this same sin twice.
I feel the same rage at people who will kill innocent babies and then accuse our American military of the same thing. God understands our feelings - they are right and just.
The pertinent question about the "hateful rage" is not whether, but when. A day in eternity of wrath is coming if certain people won't repent, which by comparison will make your "hateful rage" seem like an expression of petty annoyance.