Posted on 02/21/2003 5:55:12 PM PST by MHGinTN
WARNING: this is a vanity post, a rambling collection of thoughts coalesced during the past few days of concentrated reading and musing at FR. With deference to Luis Gonzalez and JohnHuang2, excellent essayists unique to FreeRepublic—so far, I will try to maintain a degree of coherence while I entice in their venue.
Thursday night on Radio FR, Doug From Upland had a great one-hour interview with Ted Hayes, the very articulate activist devoting his life to championing the plight of homeless Americans, and I suspect, especially homeless military vets. [I didn’t catch the entire hour, so I may have missed his affirmation of that notion.] During that same evening, Luis Gonzalez graced us with another of his tributes to his friend, Marshall, a friend lost while serving in the military. [Really, Luis invited us to consider our friends and relatives who’ve served.] Also during the week passed, we’ve had posted for discussion numerous articles and essays dealing with the sundry aspects of the growing storm in the Middle East, and the political maneuverings here and abroad that detract or add to the verbal blizzard. [We’ve had invitations to join in, freeping our support to the embattle President as he faces off with domestic and international forces desiring to thwart a final resolution to the ‘Demon of Baghdad’ and a murderous regime. I joined a couple of those efforts.]
Our honorable warriors are about to go into harms way once again. These are our brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, neighbors and associates … fellow Americans about to project our force in a part of the world that doubts our goodness, much less our good intentions. While it is impossible to persuade the opposition political forces that unity is the most urgent need at this late hour before open conflict, we Freepers, for the vast part, are united in our support for our military personnel. And that unity will be called upon to continue even after the shooting is over, as the veterans return home and the inevitable body bags fly back for burial. God how I pray those will be so very few! But we must make an effort to extend the support for our honorable warriors of this campaign, throughout and beyond. Vietnam was not an American shame, it was the way our honorable personnel were treated that was our shame. [I speak as one who lived through the entire morass. These times are similar yet they are different … fellow citizens have been slaughtered, here, on our soil, launching US into a war for national survival as perilous as the Japanese and German intentions for our extinction.]
Here’s the deal: every warrior situated in harms way in the Middle East/Persian Gulf region is represented by family here at home. We can serve our nation by making it a point to notice, which is a household in our neighborhood sending a beloved one into that conflict on our behalf. We can pay attention to our neighbors and volunteer to aid them, if opportunity presents, for just about any reason they wish to allow, mowing grass, grocery toting, babysitting, trips to the dentist or doctor, coffee and quiet chat—to listen as they express their anxieties—it really isn’t rocket science, just human compassion and appreciation. And who knows, we may find our comradeship could become contagious, become an expression of our unique Americanism when the fiends who hate US come again to attack and maim, to destroy and despoil. And they will come, make no mistake on that. Whether we fight in Iraq or not, there is an evil tide trying to sweep away democracy and religious freedom world wide, to impose Islamic totalitarianism. We must defeat that though we be bloodied, again.
The world will be watching US very closely in the days and months ahead. Let’s lead the world from our own neighborhoods, displaying our sense of solidarity and determination, our sense of community and compassion. Someday, the world may actually become a community. Someone ought to lead the peoples of the earth in their search for that community, in their search for the defining characteristics of that brave new world. I believe with all my heart that Americans have the right stuff from whence to define those characteristics. The world could learn of US by our acts of comradeship in these times of trial. Let’s not allow the shrill voices of division and deceit to divert US from expressing our unity with our honorable military personnel and their precious families, in service to our own families and our collective future as Americans.
I was addressing local neighborhood compassion, but it can't hurt to volunteer to be a resource through the Ombudsman since that office often hears from a family in need prior to it showing in the neighborhood. Active military bases are better cocordianted to deal with family situations, but we have huge numbers of reservists being activated and their families tend to be in non-military neighborhoods.
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