Have you ever had one of those seemingly very rare moments of absolute crystal clarity? If you have then you will know what I’m talking about in this post. For me these moments of clarity are moments when you look around and the whole world is in sharp focus and you think to yourself, “So this is what it’s all about.” I had one of those moments this weekend and the focal point of that moment of clarity was something I have known for a long time.
At the time I experienced this moment of clarity I was thinking about two very related subjects that I often think about and those are, the casualties of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan and the reporting of deceit, dishonesty, and corruption by the media. These two subjects are closely linked in my mind and I will expound on that in a moment.
I would like for you to take a moment and think about death. I realize this is not a very comfortable subject to discuss but I would like for you to just dwell on the idea of death and I would like for you to really try to understand the permanency of it. I would really like for you to try to think of what it is and what it might be like. Take a moment and really, really think about death and the emptiness of it. Think about not just death from the point of view of the person dying but also from the point of view of those left behind without them in their lives. Now if you have children I would like you to think about how you feel about your children. Really think about your children or if you don’t have any then think about the children of your brothers or sisters or close friends. Think about how you feel when your child hurts or injures themselves. When you are really into the emotion of your child being injured I would like for you to snuff that life out. That’s right, just snuff it out. They aren’t there anymore. They’re gone from your life permanently. Just imagine and dwell on your life without your child.
Now I would like for you to take a moment and think about a young man or woman about 19 or 20 years old and about what their life might be like. Really imagine what this young person’s life might be like. Think of them and think of your own child at that age and really dwell on it for a moment. Now think about that child’s mother or father. Think about how that mother or father feels when their child is injured or hurt. Now when you are really in that other parent’s head I want you to snuff that child’s life out. I want you to imagine life suddenly without your child and transfer that feeling over to the parent of that 19 or 20 year old child who is no longer there.
Now just think about those same children alive but horribly crippled and maimed for life. Think about those children missing legs, arms, eyes and even their ability to speak to you. Think about your child and the children of your family and friends in wheel chairs and in beds that they will never leave.
Over the weekend, as I read the headlines and then reviewed headlines of the past 4 or 5 years, one over riding and overpowering theme screamed from the pages and that theme was dishonesty. Oh, the headlines all read differently. Some were subtle and inferred, “influencing” and others were not so subtle and stated blatantly that they were accused of perjury or bribery or fraud but the theme of dishonesty was always there regardless of the adjective or noun and seemingly regardless of the subject being addressed. They might discuss “shielding” the president or employing “plausible deniability” but still the theme remained dishonesty. They might state that the president didn’t “authorize” the leak but he declassified the information after the leak and the theme remained dishonesty. The most telling and obvious of all the headlines though were the direct quotes about the war with and occupation of Iraq that were consistently diametrically opposed and spoken by persons representing the administration if not always the president himself. The point is that the theme was always dishonesty and it seems to me that when the theme is always dishonesty then dishonesty is fact. It also seems to me that this administration is the personification of repetition. Unfortunately, they are consistently repeating misinformation, disinformation, deceptive information and blatant lies. They would appear to be attempting to confirm the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt when he said, “Repetition does not transform a lie into a truth.”
The lose of a child is a horrible and unspeakable thing. When one contemplates such a thing it is often a fruitless struggle to understand that which is not understandable and to justify that which is not justifiable. And so we find ourselves asking the unanswerable. Why is my child gone? What did my child die for? It is because of this unspeakable pain and these unanswerable questions that when the leader of a nation request authorization for and directs the use of military force it is imperative that it be a just and humane cause and a just authorization conducted in the bright and focused light of honesty. To ask for less is to ask that which should not be asked and to do less is to do the unthinkable.
The reality, the moment of clarity for this nation, is this. The children of America are giving their lives and limbs for lies. The children of Iraq are dying and being maimed because of lies. For this reason alone the citizens of this nation must stand before the gates of Washington D.C. and shout, ‘Mr. Bush, bring our children home!’
Where is there dignity unless there is honesty? Cicero (106 BC - 43 BC)
Those Are The Sergeant Majors Thoughts On That.
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1 comment:
i was talking recently with a young man who is considering joining the marines. he was asking about my service, especially the combat stuff. i told him that i wished my recruiter had told me that when you get shot it still hurts 40 years later. i might not have been so reckless.
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