Originally Posted by
Gem
OK, now we're actually getting somewhere.
And you know what? I hear you!
Sounds like you were in 'Nam, CSM. I think there's something you need to know about me. I lost more than a few friends during that time when I tried to tell my fellow peaceniks that they shouldn't be spittin' on returning soldiers, that they- as a general rule anyway- weren't the problem- that it was the lies and deceptions of those in power and those that stood to gain so much from that military campaign that were the problem. Yeah, you may have thought you were fighting for our country, but the sad fact is you were misled by your own government and fought a war that, in hindsight, never needed to be fought at all. I hate to tell you this, CSM, but you were being used- by your own government and the corporations that made billions off of all those misled soldiers, you included. I also don't believe I've ever said that our soldiers deserved to die because "they knew what they were getting into". You're not the only one that lost friends in that war, CSM- and it hurt me just as bad as it hurt you.
If I come across as "morally superior" to you maybe it's because I've been through my own battles and gotten screwed and hurt and faced death a few times myself. There are many battlefields in the journey of life, CSM, and a lot of those are concerned with learning the appropriate ways of dealing with misfortune and bitter disappointments. It is the battles within that are the hardest battles to win, and to win those battles one must learn to step out of oneself and learn to see the world or a situation through someone elses eyes. It is, in a word, an excercise in getting over oneself and learning to move forward and releasing the anger and pain of previous realities that have caused us pain.
You say you were wounded. Well, you know what, I've been wounded from hostile fire on the battlefield of life too. And you know what? When I returned to that battlefield a month later I wasn't allowed, by law, to carry a weapon on that battlefield. But I returned to that battlefield, unarmed, as required by law, with a paralysed arm and still spitting out chunks of lead, and performed the duties I was ordered to do. There are many forms of courage, CSM. You know, it took a lot of courage to go back on the job, unarmed, by myself, on the graveyard shift, after I'd been hit, point blank, with a 16 guage shotgun in the back and the side of my face. Especially without a weapon with which to defend myself. But I did what I knew I had to do. You know, it took a lot of courage for those flower children in the 60's to walk up to those National Guardsmen that had their weapons leveled at them and stick the stems of flowers into the barrels of the weapons the Guardsmen had leveled at them, knowing full well that the order to open fire could come at any time too. It wasn't a courage born of fear or an instinct to survive, CSM, it was a courage borne of belief and conviction and a knowledge of right and wrong and a desire to do what we knew was right. It was a spiritual courage, CSM, the kind of courage Jesus tried to teach, and there is no level of courage greater than that.
Know why we aren't seeing any protestors spitting on wounded returning soldiers today like we saw during the 'Nam years? It's because we learned the lessons of the mistakes of our past. It has nothing to do with anyone supporting a "cause celebre' ". We know now what not to do. Question is, have those that support Bush&Co and the War in Iraq learned their lessons from the past, as US liberals have? Have they learned what not to do? Have you?
If we come across as being "superior" maybe it's because US liberals are disgusted at seeing our nation and our soldiers duped, not once but twice, in the same way in a single lifetime. This may come as a surprise to you, CSM, but US liberals support our troops and don't like what this administration, and the corporate entities they cater and kow-tow to, are putting soldiers much like yourself through. Instead of all the partisan bickering and hate and resentments from the past taking control of our lives wouldn't it be better to just let a peacenik liberal come up to you and hug you, say what needs to said, offer the deserved apologies and let the tears flow and watch the hatred, angst and bitterness melt away so that we can be one people and one nation once again? That, I think, would be the healing way, and I think both you and I know that there's plenty of healing that needs to be done in OUR country.
I think you also need to know that I haven't written this from a space of ego or superiority. What I have written here comes from the heart. I know you can't see it, but I am wiping the tears of hope and forgiveness from my face as I write these last few words. That should serve as a clear indication of the depth of what I have come to believe and wish to share with you. In the crowd I run with we say that you can always count on your fair-weather friends to tell you what you want to hear, but it's your real friends that will tell you what you need to hear. I really would prefer to be your friend, CSM, but you're going to have to let me be that friend- and that choice would have to be up to you.
Peace, Brother!
Gem
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...just to set me right! 
