My Life Blog

I’ve been stewing on this for a couple of weeks now.

I have a couple of former co-worker friends who were involved in an e-mail thread that I was part of.  One of them suggested that a friend who was working in Sweden stay there since the U.S. is no place to come home to right now — this because of the perceived poor leadership.  Another mentioned living in Canada. 

I should admit that I’m fairly apolitical — I don’t get into politics at all.  I’m into sports and other things that I can get my head around.  So I’m happily unaware of the misery that apparently surrounds me.  Does anyone else find offense in these reactions?

The United States rocks as a country!  We’ve all hit the jackpot when you think of all the places that you could have been born into.  However old you are, many of the freedoms you enjoy are the result of the hard work and sacrifice of those before you.  Many paid the ultimate sacrifice — and there is no arguing about either WWI or WWII. 

I do not understand the mindset of these people who can become disenchanted with a country after four years of perceived poor leadership.  Have we not had spells of questionable leadership before?  Didn’t we have a depression at some point?  Haven’t we made some mistakes previously that created vast more hardship than we all feel now?  I just don’t get it.

My grandfather served in WWII.  I have all of his many medals in my home.  He did not pay the ultimate sacrifice, but he certainly sacrificed much.  He was away from my mother and grandmother for years at a time doing what he thought was right.  If he only knew how disloyal people would become!

To all of you who would move to another country: you are quitters and you are disloyal to your country and everyone who has ever served and who serves now.  Instead of running from the "problem" (whatever you perceive it to be), why don’t you DO SOMETHING about it?  Why don’t you hang in there for the next four years and sacrifice a little of yourself to make things better?  Or is it too much of a sacrifice for you to earn your six figure jobs, go to your nice restaurants, drive your nice cars, and work some of that into your lifestyle? 

I meant to work in a note about the guy who suicided as a protest at Ground Zero.  I am equally disgusted by whatever thought process led to that event.  That guy was the ultimate quitter.  He had a lifetime perhaps to effect change and decided that things were just too far gone.  Unbelievable.

Happy belated Veterans Day…and thanks to all who remain patriotic to your country and maintain a constructive mindset to the problems that we confront.

Okay…I feel better now…

I’m so confused on what is considered "right" these days.

The Middle East is in an uproar regarding the shooting of a wounded insurgent who had previously taken an attacking position from a mosque.

Meanwhile, the insurgents are beheading innocent Westerners who are helping to rebuild their country.  Or worse yet, a Brit who spent close to three decades dedicating her life to helping the Iragi people — and even marrying an Iraqi.

And has it been mentioned that the insurgents have employed the technique of booby trapping the dead and the wounded?  Our soldiers face unbelievable risks and have to fight through situational perceptions that aren’t what they appear.  We are fighting an enemy that has never played by the rules — and so what rules must we now play by? 

In war, it seems okay to kill if you get that first good shot in.  But thereafter, there’s this confusing time-sensitive rule that seems to confuse the issue.  Once someone is wounded and appears to be defenseless, you cannot finish the job.  But why?  What’s the difference between two shots fired within seconds; the first wounding and the second killing vs. two shots fired minutes or days apart?  To me it all seems the same. 

Obviously, war is terrible and terrible things are happening, but let’s not punish a Marine for trying to navigate the confusing rules of engagement for a very confusing war situation.

As always, just my opinion, I could definitely be wrong…but this is how I feel about this.