Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Veteran's Day: (Why isn't it Veterans' Day? It's for all the veterans, right? But that's not how it's written. It's not Mothers' Day, either, but Mother's Day is for each of our individual mothers. Is it for each indivicual veteran? That doesn't make any sense on any level because being a veteral isn't about anything individual; it's about losing indivudality to ascribe to the group mentality and ditch the humanity we usually have to adhere to in order to be a good soldier, right?) How's that for a long sentence?

But seriously, isn't that what basic training is all about? Get rid of the "me" for the "we"? Find a common enemy and ditch everything you've been taught about humane decency so killing can be done for the "common good"? I'm reading Chris Hedges' War is the Force that Gives us Meaning and it's affirming too many things I've been thinking for a long, long time.
This doesn't have anything to do with the immense respect and appreciation I have for each and every veteran and each and every enlisted man or woman. It's a comment on the whole idea of war.

How could anyone ever declare war unless that person felt an absolute "rightness" and that the enemy was absolutely evil so that innocents deserved to die to eradicate the evil?

1 comment:

Ned Charpentier said...

Wow I never thought of it like that, great points.