I've been on the go this weekend-so I have not spent very much time in front of the computer. I have been taking advantage of the time off offered by the holiday to see and enjoy Amsterdam. Nonetheless- a short posting about the reason for the holiday is in order.
About a year and a half back-I posted on another blog's comment section that "the reason I joined the Navy was to fly and to travel, and I am happy to report that the Navy kept its part of the bargain and provided all I wanted" . To my surprise -one of the other commenters took me to task for not mentioning love of country, or patriotism if you will-as on of my reasons for joining the Navy. The condescension was so thick you could cut it with a knife. For the life of me, I didn't understand her comment-then or now.
Patriotism, in my humble opinion, is the act of showing up. Nothing more really-and its something that each of the folks we honor on this day did.Did they show up out of love country? Of course-but they also showed up because they understood what was their duty-and they understood the consequences of not doing that duty. Showing up-day after day, even when you don't wish to-is the ultimate act of patriotism and we should not forget that.
In its purest sense-the death of every American Serviceman is a fundamental tragedy. A son who won't have a father, a wife who won't have a husband any more, a parent who won't have a son. It is a life cut short in an endeavor that in a proper world-should not exist. And is fundamentally a bad thing-no matter what the necessity for the conflict. War is a tragedy-all equally so.
One of the sobering things about living in Europe-and visiting the various spots of the continent, is the recognition of how many millions have been killed in the various wars over the lands and rulers of the various nations in Europe. The blood of soldiers dying has been dripping into European soil for over 2000 years. What was different about their sacrifice than that of the Americans we honor today? The answer is, painfully we must admit, very little. They too showed up-even when the conflict was not necessarily in their nation's best interest.
Which gets to my real point for this post and for today. There has arisen in some quarters a perception that one cannot question the conflicts that caused the sacrifice of these brave servicemen-and still honestly honor their service. I reject that contention-and put forth this simple premise: their sacrifices were all meaningless, unless it brings us to a time where we put war behind us as the abomination that it is. To echo the words of one of my favorite authors: Either War is finished-or we are.
It is important to remember that today-and then move to honor those who gave their all, in the hope that others would never have to. War is not the natural state of things and we should stop pretending that it is. We have to find a saner way for humans to settle their issues on this planet.
So lets give thanks for the American serviceman-and hope that in the future the sacrifice of even one on the field of battle becomes increasingly rare. Then and only then-when put the tasks of war behind us forever-will we truly have honored them.