Will you be my valentine?
While I’ve never been much for planned occasions, I am rather sentimental. I can remember sending a lot of little valentine cards. Most of them were part of the buy-a-bag-of-cards and send-them-to-everyone-you-know routine that was once common. A couple were very special, though; carefully chosen and sent to a special girl, with hopes that she would be “mine” in any way at all. Ah, those young loves.
Today, though, when I realized that it was Valentine’s Day, and thoughts of love came to mind, they were quickly replaced by mental images of people for whom thoughts of love are far from mind. While we may wish each other love, the actions of our own, elected, “representative” government are sending quite opposite messages. U.S. military troops are, as usual, destroying, killing and maiming around the globe. Further, other governments, using aid and weapons from our government, are doing the same. We are still imprisoning and torturing.
Hundreds of thousands of Americans losing jobs, losing homes, or just failing to hold their own in a government-caused economic failure, are likely in no mood to wish others happy anything.
There are times when I wish I were like some others, who can ignore such ugly realities and mush on blindly about valentines and loving each other. Oh yes… I use distractions too, but reality is never far from mind. I just finished an unusual book, “Human Smoke”… a compilation of chronological news and commentary items from the years leading up to WWII. I am left with a clarified vision of the utter madness and evil of world leaders… not just Hitler, Mussolini, and Tojo, but also Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin. There were NO “good guys” among all of them, regardless of the way the “victors” have caused history to be written.
It would be appropriate if our military people, just on this Valentine’s Day, put little red heart stickers on each of their bullets and bombs.
Just read your 02/15/08 statements. I’m sort of confused, and of course you know I am not a political whiz! Do I understand your comments, that you don’t believe in the GI bill? What would all those fighting in Iraq who have deployed more than 3 or 4 times and had to leave jobs in the U.S.? Does that mean these veterans are “on the take” once their service is complete? We grew up poor, yes we did! Does that mean “Baby boomers” who did not abuse the system but worked hard and chose to buy lots of “stuff” they thought would make them happy, bad people? Agree there seems to be way too much give away for folks that know how to manipulate the system. I wish I had done a better job of preparing for my “golden years”, but am I sorry I get Social Security I paid in to for all my working years? NO!
I accept responsibilty for how I didn’t manage my financial future. I believe I could have done much better. No matter how political folks “mess up” at least in this country we are free to have our dreams. I feel I failed at having a dream and a goal and can’t blame all the “bad guys” for my mistakes. Guess I am one of those “Mary Poppins” people, I am glad I lived long enough to see a man of color as President. Whether he fails, (as Rush Limbaugh hopes,) I still have hope in this country. “We the people” do not stand up for what we really want and expect from our government, and I am gulity of that quality for sure. How does this country move forward with hope and do our share as citizens, when there is so much negative thinking swirling around us trying to assure failure is all we have to look forward to in our future? Help me out of my confused thinking!!!
The point I was making about the GI Bill is that it warped so many parts of our society, not the least of which was the effect it had on future politics. WWII vets were so glorified and rewarded that it literally turned our nation into one that began to think of itself as a military empire. The GI Bill was an important part of the propaganda that turned the U.S. into a nation with bases all over the globe, with Americans fighting in wars we should have no interest in.
Being in the U.S. military has been transformed into damned lucrative work. I’m not saying it’s easy, but it lures the brightest of our young people in, with great pay and benefits. Starting with the GI Bill, our government has glorified military service to the point where, as evidenced by your comments, to even criticize it is considered unpatriotic. I do not find it even a little bit patriotic to lure young people into wars we have no business in. Remember that it was General Eisenhower, when President, who warned us about the military/industrial complex… and that warning has come to pass in spades. We have glorified military service, and our young people are paying the price, as are all of the civilian population. In spite of our government spending more on military than ALL OTHER NATIONS COMBINED, the U.S. itself is poorly defended.
I cannot believe you think this nation is doing well. As a nation, we are hated (but feared) by much of the planet. Our government has dragged us into a major depression (and Social Security benefits to the baby-boomers has barely begun). You may content yourself with hope and dreams, but I will not stand by without criticizing what our government has done to destroy what was once a great, free, and PEACEFUL nation.