Posted on 06/23/2008 12:51:57 AM PDT by johnwcassell
This post originally appeared as a comment on Jack Engelhard's HBO Yuppies versus Real Heroes appearing both on his Amazon blog as well as the Amazon Customer Forum.
Jack is the author of the world-wide bestseller INDECENT PROPOSAL as well as DAYS OF THE BITTER END and ESCAPE FROM MOUNT MORIAH. His current up and coming work is the international thriller The Bathsheba Deadline: An Original Novel available at Amazon.com. His unique perspective as a Holocaust survivor, Israeli war veteran and 100% Proud American has led to several thought-provoking articles such as this one.
Jack's article eloquently portrays the 'Two Americas' we have nowadays. 'Two Americas', as you know, is not a new label. In other times it has been used to highlight the differences between the lives of rich and poor, black and white, capital and labor.
Today we have an America of alert, strong, caring individuals side by side with an America of people with their head in the sand, 'enjoying' their decadent luxuries, yet not enjoying them at all, constantly complaining to the federal government to solve their problems for them, and most importantly , taking no responsibility for their country or the world in which it exists.
No wonder next year's presidential election led to a bloated field of candidates on both sides who did little more than regurgitate sound byte sized 'talking points' pumped into them by their staffs, trying to keep the mindless mob excited, angry at one another, believing Washington can take away their blues with a wave of a wand.
They have it down to a fine art, and their cynical tactics are mirrored by the television media, the publishing and movie industry. On all sides the people of this country are beset with the siren song of decadence and discontent.
Where is Frank Capra when we need him?
There is the other America though. Several of them showed up on Edd Voss' Amazon Customer Forum Veterans Day Tribute. A few more came up to my daughter at the airport returning from the war. 'Thank you,' they said.
My daughter, Sergeant Christine Cassell, had a smile on her face as wide as could be. She's the one who stood with me looking at the television on 9-11, watching those towers fall, who looked at me and said 'it's my generation that is going to have to clean up this mess'.
She did her part along with thousands of other young Americans. Joining the Army out of high school, she served first as a truck driver, back in the days when the trucks had no armor. She saw it all. She was part of it all. Her marksmanship rapidly came to the attention of her CO, as did her [what as described in her several citations as...] 'courage and leadership under fire'. She became a 'combat life-saver', those who stay behind with the wounded giving them first aid until the evacuation teams arrived. She went on to become a gunner and before her four years were over became an NCO commanding a gun truck.
There are many parents not as fortunate as my wife and I are. Paulo Pacificador [wonderful name for an American soldier] was in a unit that goes ahead of the convoys to take on the terrorists waiting to ambush. In between many high-risk missions he and my daughter became very close. He was looking forward to meeting me as I was looking forward to it. He was a computer genius and helped me through some of the bugs that plague Windows Vista. He was a credit to his Philippine heritage and the United States of America. He was killed in action along with his sergeant and roommate when their gun truck took a direct hit.
Christine bears all that inside her, yet her smile was lighting up the airport. Why? It was the other Americans among the hostile stares who came up to her and said 'thank you'.
'That's the highest compliment a soldier can get,' she told me.
There are many more like her of all ages. Author Tory Lynn's young daughter and her best friend are two more. I often wonder how many people are in each of the two different Americas. To hear our polluted media tell it there are very few like Christine and her buddies.
To hear the politicians there are sufficiently few thinking Americans so it makes sense to them to continue pumping their sound-byte sized drivel into the airwaves. They figure they can win with their bull...t. Then everybody can go back to their analysts, their 'reality television' and their ipods while the faceless corporate overlords, working hand in hand with government bureaucrats and politicians, quietly continue to pursue their ominous agenda.
Americans have turned on those who deceived them before. Christine and her friends, many of the eloquently patriotic writers at Amazon, and those folks who said 'thank you' at the airport give me hope they can do it again.
Thank you, Jack.
John W. Cassell John W. Cassell is the author of Crossroads: 1969 as well as five other books on the American Counterculture of the late 1960's and early 1970's, as well as the action/adventure/ cops and robbers genre. He has authored several politico-military fiction short stories and is a guest editorial contributor to Israel National News. John retired in 2006 after a career in law enforcement and criminal prosecution spanning from 1971.
WELCOME TO FREE REPUBLIC!
Thank you...I’m proud to be here!
John W. Cassell
Thank G-d there are people like you and your daughter and your entire heroic American family, John. We sure need you now! The John W. Cassell I know of — and it must be you — wrote some of the finest books ever on life during the late 1960s and early 1970s — superb and highly recommended, starting with “Crossroads: 1969.” Must reads for anyone, all of us in fact, who want to know how the 60s shaped our culture, for better or worse, until this very day.
Thank you for your good words. CROSSROADS:1969 recently went thru a second printing and is one of the books from around the world featured in this year’s publication of the ARTS ON THE UNDERGROUND FOUNDATION in London.
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