Shedding Tears for Strangers

FrontPage magazine ^ | May 31, 2005 | Frank Schaeffer

[rightalien]

I never served in the military. Before my son unexpectedly volunteered for the Marines, I was busy writing my novels and raising my family, and giving little thought to the men and women who guard us. My attitude has changed. I did not choose to change. I was forced to.

[DeweyCA]

Is this written by the same Frank Schaeffer, son of Francis, that came out so vehemently against Christianity? Where is this guy's head really at?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Yep.

[Blood of Tyrants]

Looks like at least one liberal has learned that the military is not the enemy.

[El Gato]

They are our sons, daughters, brothers and sisters. Sometimes shedding tears for strangers is a sacred duty. Sometimes it's all we can do.

But not this time. This time we can pressue our "leaders" to give them the tools they need to finish the job, inlcuding more troops if required (don't think it is). To make sure we "stay the course" and actually do finish the job. If that means taking out Iran and Syria, then so be it. The future, and the sacrifices already made, is worth it.

[Old Sarge]

I gotta play, "Stop The Tape!", here...

When my son was at war in Iraq I felt anger toward my circle of oldest friends — mostly well-off, well-educated people. I didn't know one other parent with a son or daughter in harm's way or even in the military. And no leaders were asking Americans outside the military to make any sacrifices. Were we all in this together or not?

Frank is a Socialist, who would never have lifted a finger to help America anyway, and neither would his "well-off, well-educated" progressive friends, but let's read on...

"It turned out those were just cardboard tubes. I came within a heartbeat of killing him because of friggin' cardboard tubes. I almost killed an innocent man, Dad."

But you didn't, Sergeant. It's a little thing called, discipline. Something your Leftist father doesn't understand.

My son humbled me. My son connected me to my country. He taught me that our men and women in uniform are not the "other."

I'll wait until I read your next column, to see how "humbled" you truly are. The next time you spit on my uniform, which will probably be the next brie-and-tofu social, remember: you're spitting on your own son, too.

I hate these people as much as they hate me.

[Zhangliqun]

At least he admits he was on a high-horse to begin with and needed to get knocked off.

But it really troubles me that anyone can feel so utterly disconnected from such obvious things, like the crucial nature of the military and the humanity of those in the service.

I call it the Victim of Their Own Success Syndrome -- they're so good at what they do that people tend to think that peace and prosperity are the natural state of humanity and that the military is just a bunch of yahoos out to make trouble and spoil it all. It never occurs to them that they are actually the ones who made said peace and prosperity even remotely possible.

[G.Mason]

What you said, doubled!

[Old Sarge]

Oh, and there's one thing more:

My son, Marine Sgt. John Schaeffer, recently came home alive from two back-to-back combat tours in the Middle East.

That simple phrase, which Frank says so matter-of-fact, makes real fathers of soldiers grow three inches, makes their chests swell with pride, and they look you in the eye when they say it.

There is no pride for your son in your tone, Frank. You don't tell us your son is a Marine. You have to confess it. You were "forced" to change. It's a dirty little secret you fought to keep from your progressive friends. Oh, the shame of it, your son is a Marine.

My loathing of this man requires medication.

[Murtyo]

Frank Schaeffer is a Christian - he belongs to the Greek Orthodox Church. Here's the Google Books info on the book he and his Marine son John wrote http://print.google.com/print?id=kKttGxOTxKEC&lpg=1&dq=Frank+Schaeffer&prev=http://www.google.com/search%3Fq%3DFrank%2BSchaeffer%26sourceid%3Dmozilla-search%26start%3D0%26start%3D0%26ie%3Dutf-8%26oe%3Dutf-8%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official&pg=0_1&printsec=0&sig=Gj27zHZLpxbK6vCoIqINkZHqZfk

[em2vn]

Have you been following this man since his son joined the Marines? It has been quite a story. I don't know that his politics have modified much but his understanding of service men and women and their families has grown.

[Murtyo]

http://www.frankschaeffer.net/pages/1/

Donno - I think that might be a mischaracterization what he said. Folks review some of his stuff themselves here. He wrote a funny, semi-auto-biographical novel about growing up in a protestant missionary family in a Catholic part of Switzerland with a drinking, swearing grandmother. The book he wrote about his son going into the Marines was very good, especially coming from someone who was so disconnected from the military.