A Small Victory

in defense of freedom

If you'll notice, I put a link under my graphic up top. The link leads to a page where you can fill out a form to say thank you to a member of the military. This is National Military Appreciation month; Monday is Veteran's Day.

I have always been appreciative of the military. Even back in my (near)liberal days, I never took the side of those who called members of our military killers or murderers. It always struck me as ironic that these people would gather by the hundreds to denounce a military action, completely oblivious to the fact that were in not for the men and women who have served this country since a military was first formed, they would not have that freedom to be standing there shouting their dissent.

No matter how much I have complained about this country, I always respected the fact that I have the right to complain.That's one of the things that makes the United States of America so great. You have the right to make an ass out of yourself in public. You have the right to hold up signs or shout slogans or sing songs at the front gate of the White House.

No matter how you feel about the impending war on Iraq, the war on terrorism, the war on drugs, the constitution, the pledge, our laws, our rules and regulations, you should take the time out to thank your lucky stars that our military has won for you the ability to say all those things suck. You could be staring down the face of a dictatorship right now. You could be in a country ruled by fear, where torture is a daily occurence and people are stoned to death for speaking out.

Don't you dare refute the above statements. You may shout out your rhetoric and paint the leaders of this country with whatever broad brush you are using, but this is not a dictatorship. This is not a country ruled by fear. You will not be stoned to death for marching on Washington. You will not be shot on sight because you had the misfortune of being raped and that makes you just as much of a crimnal as your rapist.

You can sit in front of your thousand dollar computer on your comfortable chair, sipping your fresh brewed coffee and listening to your incredible collection of cds and bitch and moan all you want about how this country oppresses you.

The fact of the matter is, you are damn lucky to be living here. You are damn lucky to live in a place where soldiers don't break down your door in the middle of the night and kill you because of your religion. You are damn lucky to live in a country where you can get on a bus without a very real fear of it blowing up before you reach your destination. You are very fortunate to live in a place that affords you the freedom to be whatever you want to be, where you future is decided by your choices and actions alone.

Yes, I have ripped this country to shreds before, right here on this page. But I have always ended those rants with the caveat that I would never want to live anywhere else, that this is the greatest damned country in the world and I am incredibly thankful that America is my home.

I know where my freedom comes from. I know it comes from the blood of every soldier who ever battled in a war for this country. I know it comes from great loss and great tragedy. I know that from the Revolutionary war on up, many, many people have died or put themselves on the line so I can have the right to live my life in a free country.

I am forever thankful to those people. No matter how you feel about our president or his policies or any leader that came before him, you should be thankful, too. If not, you don't deserve the freedom that all those soldiers have afforded you.

Click this link. Show your thanks.

link via iamcatman