Duty

I won't miss the volume and din but will miss the late night talks, letting #3 son sleep until noon, making huge homemade meals, and watching hairy-legged young one clear dishes without breaking anything. No one was eager for the visit to end but there are "places to go and people to see." It may take a few weeks for the scent of youth hormone and cologne to leave this old house but that's okay.

I don't know why other mother's sons join the military. Perhaps college, although mine could have went to college without the military. I tried very hard to stop my sons from enlisting. My sons were not driven by poverty nor a desire to prove machismo. For my 3 it was tradition. Considered an accomplishment through the generations by many American families; a rite of passage into the ranks of the elders; to better understand what the old men speak of. Military service was once a duty even the ruling elite felt obligated to perform: Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, Kennedy, Bush I, Dole, etc. Almost a political prerequisite for acceptance by the public.

We went to dinner one evening with #3 in dress uniform (family photo-op). To my dismay (for him) no one, not one person in the restaurant spoke to my son. We received stares, long stares. An uncomfortable air. Here in the Bible belt, military belt, heartland – it was unnatural for no one to say 'hey, how's it going over there' or 'where ya stationed'. When this part of the country turns away from those in uniform – it's more than a problem. It's an ominous signal. The American populace was fine, high-fiving and cheering, when the gang and supporting members were told they're heroes; tagging their turf with yellows ribbons and flags. When the media finally pointed out how craven and thuggish the public gang – they began to turn. On one another. Under the lamp, grilled, some plead guilty to ignorance, some to entrapment, tricked, some to an epiphanous moment where they found a conscious. Like convicts who find Jesus in jail, American John Q. Thugs now see the horror of their crime.

America knew then and knows now. Knows how ill-advised and ugly war is. All the MSM bravado and kickass attitude of a year or two ago is gone. It never really was the property of John Q. Thugs and like thieves the public spent fast and free enjoying a moment of victory doled out by propagandists. Now replaced by a sullen passive guilty population of gangsters unable to resist whatever national direction the boss offers them. Looking for plea bargains.

The local Wal-Mart has removed their "wall of honor" of area soldiers. A year ago there were at least 150 mostly young faces from every county for miles around on a wall at the Wal-Mart entrance. All that remains are pieces of dirty scotch tape and thumb tack holes. The media now gives the opposition side more voice, and more Americans feel cuckolded, married to a system there's no way out of or safe in. Uncomfortable in the presence of anything that reminds them how often they've screwed and been screwed; how many times they've had to fake it and sing proud to be American while the kingpins rob them blind and tell them it's for everyone's benefit.

There are few flags, few decals; can't remember the last time I saw a yellow ribbon. Cindy Sheehan's most recent article spoke of apathy but it smells like cowardice to me; a gang of thugs aware they do not control their own government or collective destiny (never really did), no faith in the system but it's all they know. Not apathy; but trepidation. John Q. Thug waiting for a clue. What to do when a vote doesn't count, when pols do as they're instructed by corrupt unknown masters, when every "war on" is another get rich scheme for those in control. Millions of J.Q. Thug familes waiting. Waiting, waiting. Waiting and reading and spreading the latest scare graffiti called news and/or mass mailed political urban legends presented as fact. Waiting for the next guy to do something, or at best, for the next guy to show what is courage and do something besides wait.

Another item in the past few days stuck with me. From Unknown News. The writer expresses sentiment seen more these days in regard to American troops, stating "the unpleasant truth about "American heroes", is that American soldiers are hired killers … No more, no less. The epitome of soldierdom is unquestioning obedience. Can’t have soldiers questioning orders to “light up” some brown skinned family, can we?"

The author comments that "in light of Vietnam, it is nigh unfathomable that any half-witted American can take the “call of duty” seriously." But I wonder, when and/or if the day ever came when "the people" need soldiers to choose between a useless failed government or their fellow Americans, who will these "half-witted" side with? For those folks who believe American soldiers are half-witted hired killers, no more, no less – the answer should be troublesome.

While I agree in premise with the proposal that soldiers are hired killers, (so are cops along with most government personnel and it's supporters, you the taxpayer) it's offensive to label the same soldiers "deluded dupes." Few are deluded about what they're signing on to do. And they are more than hired killers. They are friends, neighbors, children, coworkers, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, family.

I'm sick of the mantra that this war is "based on lies." All wars are staged - and based on lies, always have been. Deal with it. Maybe some believe what we see today is a whole new world of deceit by government - but it's not. Simply the evil of the ruling class laughing with an "in your face" stance at a generation raised on blood and puke teevee.

The author asks "when do we get the wisdom and charity part?" Maybe it's when gang member John Q. Thug stops screaming about what the US is doing in foreign nations and screams when the US "lights up little brown people" stateside. The way Howard Morgan was lit up, a Black man (ex cop) shot 25 times by police and survived. The ruling class knows if America's John Thugs aren't outraged by "incidents" of racism at home – then racism abroad is plenty acceptable. Light 'em if you got 'em.

Maybe it's when people stop pissing on the boots they may need to one day stand down and force a change in government. Perhaps charity these days is the left using the term "killing an entire family" rather than "baby killers." Maybe it's when folks recognize the real half-wits are those who mouth the same old styled memes, which this time around gives them even less clout. Unquestioning obedience isn't just for soldierdom. It's the epitome of John Q. Thug. It's most of America, the one nobody wants to admit to.