| Author | Message | ||
     Slaughter |
I admit to being a bit choked up: By Frank Schaeffer of the Washington Post Before my son became a Marine, I never thought much about who was defending me. Now when I read of the war on terrorism or the coming conflict in Iraq, it cuts to my heart. When I see a picture of a member of our military who has been killed, I read his or her name very carefully. Sometimes I cry. In 1999, when the barrel-chested Marine recruiter showed up in dress blues and bedazzled my son John, I did not stand in the way. John was headstrong, and he seemed to understand these stern, clean men with straight backs and flawless uniforms. I did not. I live in the Volvo-driving, higher education-worshiping North Shore of Boston. I write novels for a living. I have never served in the military. It had been hard enough sending my two older children off to Georgetown and New York University. John's enlisting was unexpected, so deeply unsettling. I did not relish the prospect of answering the question, "So where is John going to college?" from the parents who were itching to tell me all about how their son or daughter was going to Harvard. At the private high school John attended, no other students were going into the military. "But aren't the Marines terribly Southern?" (Says a lot about open-mindedness in the Northeast)asked one perplexed mother while standing next to me at the brunch following graduation. "What a waste, he was such a good student," said another parent. One parent (a professor at a nearby and rather famous university) spoke up at a school meeting and suggested that the school should “ carefully evaluate what went wrong." When John graduated from three months of boot camp on Parris Island, 3000 parents and friends were on the parade deck stands. We parents and our Marines not only were of many races but also were representative of many economic classes. Many were poor. Some arrived crammed in the backs of pickups, others by bus. John told me that a lot of parents could not afford the trip. We in the audience were white and Native American. We were Hispanic, Arab, and African American, and Asian. We were former Marines wearing the scars of battle, or at least baseball caps emblazoned with battles' names. We were Southern whites from Nashville and skinheads from New Jersey, black kids from Cleveland wearing ghetto rags and white ex-cons with ham-hock forearms defaced by jailhouse tattoos. We would not have been mistaken for the educated and well-heeled parents gathered on the lawns of John’s private school a half-year before. After graduation one new Marine told John, "Before I was a Marine, if I had ever seen you on my block I would've probably killed you just because you were standing there." This was a serious statement from one of John’s good friends, a black ex-gang member from Detroit who, as John said, "would die for me now, just like I'd die for him." My son has connected me to my country in a way that I was too selfish and insular to experience before. I feel closer to the waitress at our local diner than to some of my oldest friends. She has two sons in the Corps. They are facing the same dangers as my boy. When the guy who fixes my car asks me how John is doing, I know he means it. His younger brother is in the Navy. Why were I and the other parents at my son's private school so surprised by his choice? During World War II, the sons and daughters of the most powerful and educated families did their bit. If the idea of the immorality of the Vietnam War was the only reason those lucky enough to go to college dodged the draft, why did we not encourage our children to volunteer for military service once that war was done? Have we wealthy and educated Americans all become pacifists? Is the world a safe place? Or have we just gotten used to having somebody else defend us? What is the future of our democracy when the sons and daughters of the janitors at our elite universities are far more likely to be put in harm’s way than are any of the students whose dorms their parents clean? I feel shame because it took my son's joining the Marine Corps to make me take notice of who is defending me. I feel hope because perhaps my son is part of a future "greatest generation. "As the storm clouds of war gather, at least I know that I can look the men and women in uniform in the eye. My son is one of them. He is the best I have to offer. He is my heart. | ||
| Hootowl |
Link to original article would be great, if you have it. | ||
| Alfau |
I hope he don't end up n a ditch somewhere. War is a racket run by the USA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_l4Ab5FRwM&featur e=youtu.be | ||
| Tootal |
That's one reason I'd wish we would adopt Switzerland's example making everyone join the military for two years after high school, then they can go to college. If a poor black kid from Chicago has to depend on a Southern redneck to have his back, and vice versa, I think most of the racial BS that goes on in America would be gone! It would definitely open some eyes! | ||
| Slaughter |
Original article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/opinions/20 02/11/26/my-heart-on-the-line/c2e4a263-2d06-44d8-8 1ff-153ce778c24f/?utm_term=.eadbfb40919e | ||
| Nillaice |
every American should not be forced into joining the military after high school, but every able-bodied American should feel the moral obligation and answer the call to duty. and if it was mandatory then all the draft dodgers would just show their kids how they can get out of it, with the same excuses. frankly, I wouldn't want those persons in our military anyway | ||
| Court |
I walked into the Marine Corps Recruit office on my own . . . at a time when it wasn't popular. It was . . perhaps . . .the single best decision I have ever made in my life. Semper Fi | ||
| Ourdee |
Court, Yes it was! | ||
| Alfau |
The banking cartel needs a philosophy to justify enchaining mankind. That philosophy is Satanism. The cartel controls the world through a network of occult societies linked to Freemasonry, Communism, the Vatican and organized Jewry (Bnai Brith, ADL, AJC, Zionism.) The highest occult rank is known as the Illuminati. Who are you going to fight? | ||
| Aesquire |
Since all but one of your conspiracy partners were blamed for mankind's failures by the leftists/communist/state uber alles, I just blame the commies. Simple observation shows they are tops at mass murder for over a century. All the rest are imaginary or fraternal orders. Is the trilateral commission still around? Look at the U.S. with hard left sponsors of street violence, including Clinton minions, Soros and Obama. Too obvious when the tax record shows who pays who? I'm not sure even the Masons believe in the illuminati anymore.  | ||
| Alfau |
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| Alfau |
One of my sons has already done 2 tours of Afghanistan with the SAS regiment. I have Two other sons. I am genuinely scared for them all because of what is looming. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Tv7jalqw9I | ||
| Aesquire |
Ok, forgot the Vatican. Long time influence on everything. Now in the hands of the cult of Liberation Theology. Aka Soviet Union sponsored infiltration and take over. ( no, I'm not a fan of the new Pope ) One of the guys at work is big on the Rothschild family still running the planet. I'm more than doubtful. He's not alone, it's a popular theme in conspiracy circles. So are space aliens and Nazi flying saucers. Secret Jew Masters of the Universe? Maybe in 700 AD. Today I just see the real and public human faces of Barry & George Soros. If there's a layer past them doing secret rituals in old Egyptian tombs? Beats me. Feel free to kidnap Soros & interrogate him. Someone public has to be part of Hydra. | ||
| Alfau |
Hitlers and the Nazis fought against the Freemasons and the Jews as a historical fact. His agenda might have been a load of trumped-up bull, but Satanism exists, like it or not. Population control is a reality, Millions of Germans were manipulated as are communists, catholics, Muslims and ......... I didn't say it makes sense, just that it's not worth fighting for. Against, maybe! Honi soit qui mal y pense Someone public has to be part of Hydra. Narcissism seems popular among doughnut makers. (Message edited by alfau on March 03, 2017) | ||
| Aesquire |
If the Nazis, third worst evil regime in the 20th century hated them, then jews and masons are by definition, good guys. Since communist propaganda insists jews and masons are evil, they are good guys. Since Obama hates jews and masons...... You Obviously need to shorten your bad guy list by at least 2. Full disclosure. I have friends who are masons. I've been invited to join. I'm just not a joiner. Some of their mythos is simple bragging, imho, but the organization as a whole throughout the last 250 years at least has been solidly anti authoritarian "State uber alles" regimes. Including a vital part in my nation's revolution. |
