For many of us, they are the men and, sometimes women, holding our flag in a picture taken in a distant land. Dressed in BDUs (battle dress uniforms); full Kevlar, boots laced tightly, M-16 at their side, Oakley’s on their faces, and a tank somewhere in the background. I can shut my eyes and see any number of those pictures. Sometimes they are posted on Facebook, and they go viral. We all click “like”, share them, and salute them. We call them heroes, wear yellow ribbons, even pray for them as they deploy; as they return, as what is left comes home. They are soldiers. They are our soldiers and, as they come back different from the men they were when they shipped out, they are greeted with the amazing profundity of duty, family, and country.
We can always find a soldier when we need one, one to fight a war, to talk about service and country, to discuss the current gun debate. We wax poetic and sanctimoniously talk about what it means to be part of our military. They are the first thing we think of when we say “hero” and they are, heroes that is. Not for killing or war or sacrifice alone, but for doing what I cannot and having the courage to come home when so many of their friends will not when it’s over.
It is hard for me to imagine what it would be like to know that I had served that I defended, even killed in the name of a country where I cannot get not just a decent one, but any job. For many of our Veterans, that’s not something that they have to imagine. Where I live, there are men and women everywhere you turn in BDU’s and class A’s. We salute them, thank them, and appreciate their service. However, I’m jarred by the stark reality of what life is for too many of our Vets when they return stateside. Is all that gratitude just lip service? Can we say that we are a country committed to our Veterans when thousands are jobless, homeless and or in need of serious care and we neglect them?
I had the nerve to ask that question. Not as a Veteran, not even on behalf of Veterans, but, rather in the human ability to empathize. For lots of Americans how we treat Veterans is an issue of sympathy. For me, it is not nearly that easy. My husband left the service exactly 7 months before the United States declared war in the Middle East. 7 months and I would have been one of thousands of spouses relying on God, Government and, my husband’s fellow soldiers, to bring him home alive or bring home his dog tags and a folded flag.
Knowing the values of our Servicemen and Women, knowing that they are the thankless arbiters of the invaluable commodity of freedom, I know that sharing their stories with me was both an act of trust and humility. It is not easy to be a hero and be perceived as asking for help. I was not expecting the number of emails I received. By the third, I was entirely in tears. I know their point was not pity and be assured it wasn’t pity that I felt. It was gratitude. The immense boundless thankfulness for what they have sacrificed, what their families have sacrificed. Though we have all seen the pictures, pictures do not tell their stories. Only they can do that and, they did, tell them, to me.
One sentence in one of the first emails I read struck me. “I don’t ask for sympathy because other Vets have it way worse.” Thoughts like that are common amongst Veterans. The inability to put themselves first, it’s always about someone else, it’s shocking how clear that is for them, how difficult it seems to be for us, our Congress, our leadership. He went on to say that he “didn’t want a free pass because he is a Vet….” As if asking for a free pass would be unconscionable, the audacity of him expecting something in return for what he gave. The level of self sacrifice is inspiring.
He gave 7 years of his life including 2 combat tours in Iraq. He has 2 collapsed tendons in his ankles, and 2 degenerated discs in his back. He jumps every time he hears an explosion and has PTSD. He simply asks that his benefits go through in a timely manner and for a VA hospital that is in better shape. He spoke little of the children he left behind when he deployed, or the wife he divorced. I understand why he did not, the war cost him his family. He would never say those words. I did. I wish that story was unique. It is not. There were over a half a dozen just like his in my Inbox.
There was one of a former Marine. His small family lives in Canada now, not by choice, but, because after his 4 years and 2 tours he couldn’t get a job anywhere, not Target, not Home Depot, not anywhere. Through frustration and depression he muddled his way through part time gigs that didn’t cover the bills. A 22 year old kid who once had an offer to the Secret Service, now scrapes by, anyway he knows how as a 31 year old man. Using the forged work ethic that our military embodies, that does whatever can be done to feed a beautiful baby girl and the girlfriend he loves. All he wants is the stability of being able to provide for his family and the pride of a consistent paycheck for a hard day’s work.
There was a time when this country knew that its middle class was founded on the backs of soldiers coming home. After WWII, the nation collectively joined the war effort. Soldiers came home to jobs and a GI Bill that gave them the opportunity to have their piece of the American dream. An America that believed in the Boys, in uniform, and had the growth rate and jobs numbers to prove it. It was a time when America still built things other than partisan rancor. A time when there would not have been hesitation in passing a Veterans’ jobs bill. A time when no one would call for defense spending cuts that would hurt the soldiers first. It was a time when taking care of each other was still the noblest of our values. For Servicemen and Women transitioning back into civilian roles, family and meaningful work are two of the most integral factors in their success.
The product of compassion and investment in our Veterans is a healthier nation, economy and society. Stories of Veterans coming home to fight to have a job, buy a home, get the care they deserve should collectively sicken us. There should not be partisanship when it comes to our Veterans; it is an insult to their service. We cannot in good conscious respond to their basic needs with political jockeying and contrived rhetoric.
The inauguration of our President is a celebration of democracy and, as we watch, understand the right to choose our own government, to complain about how it functions or whether or not it upholds our individual values were secured by the lives of countless soldiers. Soldiers who pledged their lives to ensure you the right to live yours. Next time you say thank you to a Veteran, or salute one, remember that there are no words that will every describe in accuracy what we are grateful for because we will never know the true scope of what we have asked of them. Know that the only way to say thank you for what they have done, is what we are willing to do for them when they return. The fact is simply that we can never repay what they have given. It can only be measured by our willingness to secure for them the benefits which they overwhelmingly deserve.
To every Serviceperson, from the bottom of my heart, thank you for all you have done, especially affording us all the opportunity to know freedom.
Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
The Morning After...Pill not included.
The state of American politics is gravely disturbing. We talk of bipartisan rancor as commonplace. Report on the animus between the Administration and Congressional members of the opposing party. We cannot wait to see the verbal smack downs between political pundits replayed on the next cycle of the news, all of which says something about where we are as a culture. Reality TV, it appears, has permeated not just our television screens, but every aspect of our national identity.
The problem with operating from a premise like that is that it sounds Neo-Conservative. It sounds like the kind of thinking that in many ways has gotten us into this mess. The same thinking that blames all the ills of our country on something or someone other than those who should hold blame. It’s the liberal media. It’s the death of morality, and it’s the end of traditional values. It’s Gay marriage. It’s Feminism. It’s access to birth control. For a party that is so opposed to abortion and all “methods” of family planning, the irony of Speaker Boehner’s Plan B was out right hilarious. After the release of the voting results, admittedly I spent hours trying to figure out what he was thinking. Why was he exposing himself and his ostensible lack of leadership? Why was he conspiring with a few dozen petulant children disguised as Congressmen to railroad our Country?
For a culture that has taken a dismal turn away from personal or collective responsibility and dove headlong into monetizing the bad behavior of its citizens, there are still certain places where one expects a tad bit of comportment. Congress seems like it should be at the height of that list. But, this thing happened. They called it the Tea Party Revolution. What it amounted to was a pseudo-Congressional Circus Sideshow. One that no one, not even their constituents, was able to control. And, as fate would have it, they were elected for precisely that reason. We Americans willingly handed over our collective leadership to the undulating antics of Girls Gone Wild, 112th Congress edition. Talk about buyer’s remorse.
It was only through that lens that I was able to surmise what if anything positive could come out of the Plan B vote. Though I’m sure the embarrassment of the immediate failure of the measure to pass the House stung, perhaps, it was more the bee sting to show America that we’re allergic to this nonsense and less the political suicide I initially thought that it was. How else could he save face and for that matter the legacy of his leadership? This current buzz word climate is not going to allow him much leverage; it is after all the favorite right wing attack against the President. If I did not know better, I would believe that Boehner was a mole. But, in all seriousness, his only hope of preserving any part of his legacy was to allow our country to see how tragic things really are. The vote for Speaker only punctuated an already clear message.
They are holding us hostage. Fight after fight to redefine or obliterate everything this country has fought to become. If it’s not the cliff, which, by the way, raised EVERYONE'S taxes despite all of their groans against ever raising taxes – sorry Grover there was no spin that could have made that ---- shinny, then it is the looming debt ceiling or every other fiscal responsibility of the government. It is clear that these people –I use the term kindly- are determined to wage a by any means necessary, take no prisoners, so much for protecting women, kids and seniors, guerrilla politics war. Mr. Speaker I would have Plan B’d myself too.
When are we going to say enough? Will it be 2014, will we wait that long? Must they pin us to the mat and make us say uncle before we fire the lot of them and go back to running a Nation? If the twitterverse is any indication, hell will be an exceptionally cold place before we resolve this amicably. We were once a nation of political differences couched in civility. We have become the land of vitriol and name calling, and the louder one yells the crazy the more people seem to want to give them a microphone. It has to end. Politics has become better reality TV than reality TV.
There is no morning after pill for the people we elect. No quick fix to edit the people we trust to pass or reject laws on our behalf. We have a reasonable expectation of their ability to handle the duties of the position to which we elected them, but, more often than not, they fall woefully short. They in turn, have a fiduciary responsibility to govern, which somewhere along the line vacated Washington like the winter break.
I have never believed in one party rule. I think a world where one train of thought has full autonomy is an extremely dangerous world, but my God is it getting hard to justify bipartisanship these days. We must stop the shenanigans. Let’s stop the hot button divisiveness, mudslinging and radical partisanship. We have sold our soul to the Tea Party, and it is way past time to get it back. It is time to mute the Koch brothers and the Super PACs. Time to stop giving Palin, Beck and Coulter air time, time to stop trying to elect the Allen West’s of the world. It is time to bring a new generation of serious thinkers to Washington. It’s time We the People, started thinking for ourselves.
2014 cannot come soon enough.
The problem with operating from a premise like that is that it sounds Neo-Conservative. It sounds like the kind of thinking that in many ways has gotten us into this mess. The same thinking that blames all the ills of our country on something or someone other than those who should hold blame. It’s the liberal media. It’s the death of morality, and it’s the end of traditional values. It’s Gay marriage. It’s Feminism. It’s access to birth control. For a party that is so opposed to abortion and all “methods” of family planning, the irony of Speaker Boehner’s Plan B was out right hilarious. After the release of the voting results, admittedly I spent hours trying to figure out what he was thinking. Why was he exposing himself and his ostensible lack of leadership? Why was he conspiring with a few dozen petulant children disguised as Congressmen to railroad our Country?
For a culture that has taken a dismal turn away from personal or collective responsibility and dove headlong into monetizing the bad behavior of its citizens, there are still certain places where one expects a tad bit of comportment. Congress seems like it should be at the height of that list. But, this thing happened. They called it the Tea Party Revolution. What it amounted to was a pseudo-Congressional Circus Sideshow. One that no one, not even their constituents, was able to control. And, as fate would have it, they were elected for precisely that reason. We Americans willingly handed over our collective leadership to the undulating antics of Girls Gone Wild, 112th Congress edition. Talk about buyer’s remorse.
It was only through that lens that I was able to surmise what if anything positive could come out of the Plan B vote. Though I’m sure the embarrassment of the immediate failure of the measure to pass the House stung, perhaps, it was more the bee sting to show America that we’re allergic to this nonsense and less the political suicide I initially thought that it was. How else could he save face and for that matter the legacy of his leadership? This current buzz word climate is not going to allow him much leverage; it is after all the favorite right wing attack against the President. If I did not know better, I would believe that Boehner was a mole. But, in all seriousness, his only hope of preserving any part of his legacy was to allow our country to see how tragic things really are. The vote for Speaker only punctuated an already clear message.
They are holding us hostage. Fight after fight to redefine or obliterate everything this country has fought to become. If it’s not the cliff, which, by the way, raised EVERYONE'S taxes despite all of their groans against ever raising taxes – sorry Grover there was no spin that could have made that ---- shinny, then it is the looming debt ceiling or every other fiscal responsibility of the government. It is clear that these people –I use the term kindly- are determined to wage a by any means necessary, take no prisoners, so much for protecting women, kids and seniors, guerrilla politics war. Mr. Speaker I would have Plan B’d myself too.
When are we going to say enough? Will it be 2014, will we wait that long? Must they pin us to the mat and make us say uncle before we fire the lot of them and go back to running a Nation? If the twitterverse is any indication, hell will be an exceptionally cold place before we resolve this amicably. We were once a nation of political differences couched in civility. We have become the land of vitriol and name calling, and the louder one yells the crazy the more people seem to want to give them a microphone. It has to end. Politics has become better reality TV than reality TV.
There is no morning after pill for the people we elect. No quick fix to edit the people we trust to pass or reject laws on our behalf. We have a reasonable expectation of their ability to handle the duties of the position to which we elected them, but, more often than not, they fall woefully short. They in turn, have a fiduciary responsibility to govern, which somewhere along the line vacated Washington like the winter break.
I have never believed in one party rule. I think a world where one train of thought has full autonomy is an extremely dangerous world, but my God is it getting hard to justify bipartisanship these days. We must stop the shenanigans. Let’s stop the hot button divisiveness, mudslinging and radical partisanship. We have sold our soul to the Tea Party, and it is way past time to get it back. It is time to mute the Koch brothers and the Super PACs. Time to stop giving Palin, Beck and Coulter air time, time to stop trying to elect the Allen West’s of the world. It is time to bring a new generation of serious thinkers to Washington. It’s time We the People, started thinking for ourselves.
2014 cannot come soon enough.
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