18+ General Discussion Forum

Here are some random thoughts I am mentally collecting in preparation for Memorial Day:

War is bad.

Some wars our better than the alernatives.

Soldiers go to war either because they have to or they want to fight for their country or some equally compelling cause.

Today in the US, nobody has to go to war, in the sense that all our soldiers are members of the volunteer army.

Yet, it is well known that a disproportionate number of our sodliers are black, hispanic, and not from middle class families. It could be argued that we have developed a "soldier" class in the country.

Nobody in my family died in a war, although I have an uncle and a father-in-law who served in World War II. Nobody in the family has served in the armed forces since.

Some of our soldiers sacrificed their lives to a noble cause. Others were sent to their deaths for no good reason that we could articulate today. Many veterans are permanently scarred from their war experiences. Some of them are among the drug addicted, alcoholic, homeless who wander our streets.

All our fallen soldiers deserve to be remembered this weekend as we clean off our grills, open our pools, and head to beaches and parks. Let's remember the civilian and journalist dead as well.

Does anyone else have some thoughts for Memorial Day? Feel free to honor a fallen soldier on these pages or tell us about Memorial Day events you are attending.

Marcia


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