Thursday, November 11, 2010

Armistice Day

In 1954 the Congress changed the name of this day from "Armistice Day" to "Veteran's Day", thereby shifting its focus from honoring those who fought for peace to those who fought for war. Prior to that time in America, I can think of the majority of our wars as being fought for a just cause that really did involve peace or freedom, Since then I can't think of a single war that was necessary or had a just cause. (Grenada, maybe?)
This has shown itself in how we treat our veterans after they have ended their service. Ask a wounded veteran of the Iraq war how they are being treated by the Veterans Administration? Is it worthy of their sacrifice? Ask them why they fought in Iraq? What was the worthy cause for which they sacrificed? On a sub-verbal level, America is ashamed of its current wars but has no real clue how to get out of them. We were lied into them.

Why can't we simply truth our way out of them?
"Sorry! This is a big mistake. We'll be out of here as soon as we can load up."
The real reason we went into Iraq was because Saddam wouldn't let American Corporations have Iraq's oil, that and the fact that the Vice President at the time was positioned to make tens of millions through war profiteering by his old company. At the time the largest oil company and the Veep's corporation were good American companies, but since that is no longer the case, why keep fighting and sending good American troops into stupid situations with no real reachable objective?
Here's a test...Quickly...State the reason we are at war in Afghanistan and who it is that we are at war with?
I thought so.
By the way, Exxon is now a foreign corporation with headquarters in the Caribbean. Haliburton is now a foreign corporation with its headquarters in Dubai and its fingerprints all over the massive oil disaster in the Gulf coast of the USA. But that's another story...
Anyway, I have a proposal. In order to honor the men and women who fight for America, let's make sure that they are fighting for America. Why not change the name of Veteran's Day back to its original meaning? 
I'm thinking maybe "Peace Day"
Perhaps that would be the real way to honor our veterans. Honor them by making the cause for which they sacrifice just and honorable.
Peace!
Steve


In keeping with the spirit of Peace Day I suggest this for further reading.

No comments:

Post a Comment