Posted by
ElSnapitan on Friday, December 07, 2007 5:34:14 PM
Well here I am at home sitting on the couch taking care of my wife who is upstairs recovering from a gall bladder operation that she had yesterday. And I turn on the History Channel (in HD) and they are playing back to back programs on Pearl Harbor. I had completely forgotten it was the 7th.
Granted I had other things on my mind but I sat back and watched a few hours of black and white films.
I thought of my Grandfather who turned 95 this year and wondered what he was thinking when all of this happened?
Was he as mad as me when 911 happened? What was going through his mind when he went to enlist being turned away because he had polio when he was young? You would never know he had polio by looking at him. He was and still walks around quite fine despite his age.
And then what was the public thinking about how the was was going on? Would it ever end? How much more would they have to sacrifice as a nation? As a community? What about personally? How much longer would they have to continue the victory garden? How many more Americans would have to die before this was over? How many times would he look to see the names of the fallen or missing in the newspaper?
Flash forward to today.....
We have people who are upset for the losses that we have suffered as a nation since the war in Iraq. Understandable to some extent. We don't want any American to die. I get it.
In contrast, what have we had to sacrifice as a Nation besides the lives that were lost on 911 and during the Iraq war so far? Have we had to ration our food,clothes,gas,rubber or build a victory garden? NO.
I think we as Americans need a little dose of reality sometimes and remember what our past generations have gone through and hold what we are going through in check.
If you see a veteran go up and shake their hands no matter how old and thanks them for their sacrifice. They are the ones that are doing the sacrificing not us.