Monday, March 7, 2005
No Light, No Hope: The Soldier's HeartThe problem is we're asking Americans, many part-time soldiers, to do this. We are asking them to kill for us, even when those they kill are innocent, and even when we don't have to live with the nightmares, as many of them do. 2:20:28 AM | I'm reminded, again, of Tobias Wolff's essay from the New York Times (years ago now, back in April 2001), 'War and Memory,' where he talked about our responsibility as citizens not to send soldiers off to fight illegal wars where their dreams may be turned into a "tangle of nightmares," where, in the battle to see themselves in an "epic journey toward darkness or light," they may come up with no light, and no hope. Kerry asked that question back in the 70s, "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" Perhaps the question should be changed: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to kill for a mistake?" David Grossman, who is interviewed in Frontline's "The Soldier's Heart," wrote a book I read years ago, On Killing, in which he talked about the burden of killing on soldiers and how this is the burden most difficult to bear for most (more than seeing your friends killed, fearing for your own life, etc.), and also the burden we talk the least about. We are asking kids, mostly, to kill for us. Funny, Bush never mentioned that part when he sold this war. Did he? 
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This is how much our government "supports our troops." 1:38:41 AM | Voted for Bush? F*ck you. If you're able, you go fight. Just don't forget to order your plate hanger (that's a bullet proof vest) before you go. You might actually get a vest issued to you, but it won't fit well and won't protect well, either. That's why everyone who is able to buys a plate hanger from Blackhawk or another company. Use the ceramic plates from the military issue (of course, if you don't get one, you get to buy those too) and buy a better-fitting, far more useful hanger for them. $150 is a small price to pay, don't you think? If you enlist, you'll get the list: the unofficial list of what you really need, all the stuff the Army doesn't think you need since you go to war with the "army you have, not the army you want;" no matter who you voted for. Welcome to Bush's military. What a dream!
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I'm BackIt's been a long time coming, I know. I've been overwhelmed the past year, really. I'm finally ready to write the blog again. 12:01:36 AM | There's been a bit of news. My husband was called up for active duty in Afghanistan. He left a month ago. I'll post news and photos whenever he gives me the okay to do so. I moved back to Chicago (well, sort of -- I still have an apartment in New Orleans and quite a bit of our stuff). I've been traveling back and forth between Chicago, New Orleans, and Ft. Hood in Texas the past couple of months. This past week I was in LA and next week I'm flying to Europe for a friend's wedding. I intend to post from there, too. On top of it all, our darling little dog has fallen ill. I find out tomorrow if we have to put him to sleep. Poor little stinker. I'm working on a post about how I can be both completely supportive of my husband and completely against this administration; how it's a lie to say you "support the troops" and support Bush. (They are mutually exclusive. Anyone who says otherwise is, in my opinion, clueless.) There is little in the news these days about Afghanistan (and not much about Iraq, for that matter, even though Americans and Iraqis die there nearly every day). We submerge ourselves in the ludicrous, sleep-inducing "entertainment" of TV and buy enough cheap, shiny crap to make ourselves feel alive. Meanwhile, we've condemned some of our neighbors, friends, family members, to go off and face life and death situations out of our laziness and inaction. (Yes, I include myself in this). We're responsible for this administration. We've let them stay in power. The blood is on our hands. Since this is really a new blog, I figured it needed a new look. I've taken away the categories feature. Please let me know if you miss them. If you do, I'll bring them back. Sorry for the glitches (I have no idea how to change the calendar color, for one!); I'm trying, I swear!
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Last update: 7/17/05; 10:11:28 AM .
