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diluzio91
05-31-2010, 01:01 AM
Sorry if this offends anyone... but i just wanted to post this in a few places. If it does feel free to delete this.

A memorial day message:

Memorial day is a day to remember those who have given their lives for their country, and those who are sacrificing today to keep this country safe from those who would harm it.
Many people today are protesting the war. There have been cases of military men returning home to see their families, only to be greeted with boos and jeers as they step off the plane wearing their uniforms. You call this protest, you call this the right to free speech. You have never had to fight for your country. You have never known the fear experienced by those in the military. You have never known the feeling as a bullet flies past your head. You have never known the pain of watching a friend, a brother in arms being killed in front of you. You know nothing of the fear that these men face every day.
So before you pick up your signs, and go and jeer at the brave men who fight every day so you don’t have to. Remember. The reason you have the right to pick up those signs is because of the brave men and women who have sacrificed themselves in the military. So the next time you think to yourself “the war should be ended” ask yourself. Why do I want the war to end? Is it so a loved one can come home? Is it so the lives of the soldiers that bravely face dangers every day can come home safe? Or is it because war is wrong. Because innocent civilians in Iraq and Iran might be harmed when someone takes an AK-47 and begins blasting rounds towards the brave Americans risking life and limb to free those innocent civilians from tyranny? Because I have some bad news for you. War is the way that the world works. You can try to pursue diplomatic resolutions, but there will always be those who are willing to fight, and go to war for their beliefs. If you are not willing to fight for the things you believe in, then why do you believe in them.
No amount of kissing up to other countries will regain their respect. To regain their respect we do not need a leader who apologizes for past presidents, who feels that we are an “arrogant” country. Americans seem arrogant because we are proud.
Americans risk their lives to defend people across the globe. We don’t ask for money, because that would go against what we stand for. We don’t ask for thanks, because we don’t always get it. We leave with the knowledge that we have changed the world for the better. We leave, knowing that we have made a difference. This country has lost itself.
The flag is taken for granted, and few people do things because it is the American way. We try to copy European policies, made for another country and another way of life. We put in place government policies that we fought against for decades, because some snake oil salesman says that they will make our country a better place.
If you believe in the true spirit of America. That spirit that helped us declare our independence from foreign rule. The spirit that makes us strive to better ourselves, and to sacrifice for our country. The spirit that made us industrious, and asked only that we lend our labor and skill to the cause of forwarding this country. Then remember. Remember the true America. The America that we used to be willing to fight for tooth and nail. Remember those who did just that. Remember America.
Remember.

BuzzKillington
05-31-2010, 02:48 AM
Amen. If you wouldn't mind, I'd like to share this with others as it's probably worded better than I could express it myself.

Remember why you have your freedoms and realize who you owe for keeping them.

diluzio91
05-31-2010, 12:17 PM
thats okay with me, just credit it to alex diluzio if anyone asks

Xpirate
05-31-2010, 01:12 PM
Good writing diluzio91.

Freedom is not free. Our military men and women pay for just about all of it.

msmrx57
05-31-2010, 02:09 PM
Very well put. Protester do not give us free speech, they merely abuse it. American soldiers have died to give us free speech, freedom of religion, and all the other freedoms that people take for granted.

Kayin
05-31-2010, 03:21 PM
Statements like this make me damn proud to be an American.

God bless you, Alex, and God bless America. Some of us still want it that way.

Drum Thumper
05-31-2010, 04:32 PM
Statements like this make me damn proud to be an American.

God bless you, Alex, and God bless America. Some of us still want it that way.

+1 to that. And to those of you who are serving or have served, a huge Thank You from Big Sky Country!

Oneslowz28
05-31-2010, 05:52 PM
No man could have said it better! All of our men and women who serve so the rest of us can live in peace and liberty deserve a lot more respect than some in this country give them. Every single time I see a soldier in uniform or a vet in one of their organizations uniforms or even one wearing a hat denoting his company or ship, I stop and thank them for serving.

Thanks for posting this!

Trace
05-31-2010, 05:53 PM
I do the same CJ!

dr.walrus
05-31-2010, 06:19 PM
Ok, here goes. I'll probably get shot down in flames for this, but so be it.

First off, I agree completely with what you're saying about the soldiers. They should be applauded and supported in every way, and I do not envy them the job they have. The fear, the pain, the brothers being killed in front of you, I absolutely agree and will take this moment to thank each and every one of them, as I have in the past and will continue to. The America you paint the picture of in the last half of your post is the one I'm proud of.

The soldiers aren't the problem. I've asked before and have never gotten a satisfactory answer to this.



How do the deaths of several thousand of Americas finest young men and women in a nation on the other side of the world give me the right to free speech? How are these military actions defending my rights in any way? The way I see it, the only way these soldiers died for my country was that they died at the orders of the suits that run the show. They died for the government, not the country.

Even if you grant that the war is justified, which I would argue against very strongly, I fail to see how it is defending any of us or our rights. If anything, it seems to me it has left the defense of this nation short by several thousand defenders.

Again, to the soldiers out there, believe it or not I do thank you, more than I can express. Your presence and what you do are a deterrent that does in fact protect my freedoms, simply by being there to stop anyone who would take them. To those who claim that having the national guard (I always thought they called it that for a reason) fighting and dying on the other side of the planet is protecting us or our freedoms, I ask you to tell me how. To the suits that move the pawns on the board, I say wake up and look closer to home. There are real threats out there right now, a thousand times more dangerous than the poppy fields of Afghanistan, and every soldier you kill there is one less here at home when it really counts.

That is all. Flame at will.

I couldn't like this any more.

Support our troops, yes. But support their meaningless deaths? Ignore the deaths of hundreds of thousands of civilians?

No thanks. That makes me sick to the core.

OvRiDe
05-31-2010, 08:24 PM
How do the deaths of several thousand of Americas finest young men and women in a nation on the other side of the world give me the right to free speech? How are these military actions defending my rights in any way? The way I see it, the only way these soldiers died for my country was that they died at the orders of the suits that run the show. They died for the government, not the country.

What an incredibly short sighted statement. I try to stay out of today's political debates, but the problem is Memorial day is NOT about today's political issues. First off Memorial Day is about fallen Veterans for PAST as well as present. It was first enacted to honor fallen Union soldiers during the Civil war. Not half way around the world, but they were fighting for American civil rights. Later after World War I it expanded to honor ALL fallen American Soldiers.



How do the deaths of several thousand of Americas finest young men and women in a nation on the other side of the world give me the right to free speech?

So do you think if the US didn't send Troops to Europe or Japan, World War II would have just stopped at our borders? Do you think that Europe would have the kind of freedoms it does under Hitler? Once the Nazi's made it over here do you think he would have just let us go on with the Constitution as we have it now? Because our American soldiers go to the war instead of staying out of it and waiting, has protected the country from ever having to fight a battle against a foreign enemy within the continental United States of America. So there you have it, whether you agree with it or not, please keep in mind that Memorial day is not only about today, its about those that gave up their tomorrows so we can have our tomorrows.

blueonblack
05-31-2010, 08:58 PM
please keep in mind that Memorial day is not only about today, its about those that gave up their tomorrows so we can have our tomorrows

Completely agreed, and the examples you give are excellent examples of soldiers who *did* die to protect our freedom and our rights. They are the people that did indeed fight and die for their country, and they are indeed what Memorial Day is about, and some of my family members are among them.

My post was undeniably centered in the present, likely because the OP used the present tense and referred to "the war", obviously a present-day reference. You are absolutely correct in the meaning of the holiday, and I went off on a tangent at the mention of the war and the soldiers of present day. I stand by the statements, but they are in the wrong place.

Apologies. I happen to have two WWII veterans right here at work with me tonight and will thank them personally.

Luthien
05-31-2010, 09:13 PM
I have known people who have died for our country. I remember one guy I went to high school with, Dusty Parrish. He was younger than me, but his brother and I were in the same class. He died almost a year ago.

http://freedomremembered.com/index.php/spc-charles-dusty-parris/

We shouldn't be arguing over whether or not the troops should be overseas today. We should be thanking the troops for their courage and remembering those who have died to defend our freedom.

diluzio91
06-01-2010, 02:25 AM
We shouldn't be arguing over whether or not the troops should be overseas today. We should be thanking the troops for their courage and remembering those who have died to defend our freedom.

Bam. Got it in one. ++

dr.walrus
06-01-2010, 07:54 AM
Bam. Got it in one. ++

Hold on, you're the one who politicised this thread in your very first post.

And I think it's pathetic that someone felt the need to censor my post. Edit - my bad

OvRiDe
06-01-2010, 12:18 PM
Hold on, you're the one who politicised this thread in your very first post.

And I think it's pathetic that someone felt the need to censor my post.

What post are you talking about? I see no edits in the system.

diluzio91
06-01-2010, 05:47 PM
im saying its about the people who are currently sacrificing themselves for the betterment of others. Luthien got the point of the article. It wasnt to raise a political agenda or anything like that. It was to bring to light the sacrifice of the veterans in our country, and the ways that they are being disrespected... Also. DR.W... its hard to argue that the article means something else when the person who wrote it is the one talking. Also i didnt notice any edits either.

dr.walrus
06-01-2010, 07:04 PM
What post are you talking about? I see no edits in the system.

Edit: My bad.

dr.walrus
06-01-2010, 07:06 PM
It wasnt to raise a political agenda or anything like that.

Then why criticise anti-war protestors directly? It's one thing to lambast those jeering troops, but criticising anti-war protesters in the same voice is a totally different argument.

OvRiDe
06-01-2010, 08:38 PM
I made a post agreeing with blueonblack, criticising the romanticisation of american troops while the reasons for their deaths is not justified and that civilian deaths on the oppositions side (remember the USA never been invaded since its foundation) and now it's gone. It was 100% there.
I see a post similar to that here... http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showpost.php?p=291495&postcount=10 at the bottom of the first page. Is this the post that your were referring to?

dr.walrus
06-01-2010, 08:45 PM
I see a post similar to that here... http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showpost.php?p=291495&postcount=10 at the bottom of the first page. Is this the post that your were referring to?

Oops. Thought it was on the top of the second page. Sorry, my bad entirely.

EDIT: BoB deleted his original post and mine was bumped up one, and therefore off the second page where I was looking for it. Mystery solved. Still my bad.