For Those Who Serve, Thank You
By JIM MONTANA
jim.montana(at)yahoo.com
This past week has been one chock full of political tidbits and since last week’s column got lost [[Ed.’s note: It did get published eventually, if you’re looking for it, but it went up late]] I will make up for that this week. Since my last published-on-time column, we have had a political icon diagnosed with a brain tumor, a democratic candidate that should have thought before they spoke and our first confirmed ticket for the November election. But before we get to all of that let me take this time to talk about the sacrifices that our brave men and women make on a daily basis to ensure our freedom. We see them all around: flags on our front porch, car magnets that say We Support Our Troops, yet what have we done to truly remember the troops? Better yet, do we really remember what our soldiers presently and those that came before them do in order to protect this country and afford us freedom?
Memorial Day is a day for reflection, a day when we remember those who paid the ultimate price for the freedom that we enjoy. While some of us may have gotten a long weekend because of it, our troops didn’t. In fact, some of them lost their lives on this very day; many of them haven’t had a holiday with their family in two or more years. How often do we hear on the news about another one of our brave soldiers being killed in Iraq? Some may find it is easy to point the finger of blame as to whose fault it was for us going into war, yet how often do we stop and show our thanks for the job that they do? Do we send them care packages? Most of us don’t unless we have someone we know or care about. Remember, every one of those troops has a mother, child, father or wife that cares about them. If more people sent care packages to a random soldier or letters of thanks these troops might remember what they are fighting for and feel that they are in fact appreciated. It is easy in all of the death and destruction these soldiers see to lose their moral and become discouraged. They need a reminder every now and then to get them through the rough times.
Regardless of why we are over there, the fact is we are over there fighting to keep our freedom and to bring freedom to a country that has long since been under a dictatorship, in hopes that one day the people of Iraq can experience the joy of having freedom to do as they wish instead of a government telling them how to act and what to think. These men and women knew that when they joined the military that they might be sent into combat and unfortunately die in the line of duty while carrying out their mission, the same as a firefighter or police officer and they have accepted this responsibility without question. Yet we fight over whether our troops deserve to be equipped properly and bicker back and forth over when they should come home.
In our busy lives, we tend to take for granted the rights that we have fought for through the years. People argue that this war needs to end and that may be true, however there will in the future be another war that our military will be sent to serve in. Regardless of whether you are a Democrat, Republican or an Independent, we all, as a nation, need to collectively put our political beliefs aside. Remember that we are all Americans and that the men who have fought from the days of the Revolutionary War all the way to Iraqi Freedom have had at least one thing in common: They believed in this country and what it stood for and were willing to die to protect those beliefs.
So I hope you enjoyed your day off, spent it with those that you love and remembered it is because of sacrifice that it is possible. Don’t forget to thank our troops and truly show your support for all they do because the next war might have your son or daughter going to fight for the red, white and blue.
As I mentioned earlier a couple of weeks ago the patriarch of the Kennedy family was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Now watching the news coverage of this story you would have thought that Sen. Kennedy had already left this earth. They all but were writing his eulogy. While Ted Kennedy has been a easy target over the years for jokes about his drinking and the unfortunate incident with him taking a long drive off a short pier, he is the second longest member of the senate with a whopping forty plus years. Along with Kennedy being a fixture in the Senate, he is an icon in American politics. This is the same man, who gave the obituary at his brother Roberts funeral, also to Ted Kennedy’s credit he has been the voice of reason in a politically divided Senate for the last forty plus years. On Saturday when the news first broke of Sen. Kennedy being ill it was feared that he might have suffered a stroke, after several test it was discovered that he has a tumor on the left side of his brain, and unfortunately the survival rate for someone with this type of tumor is less than a year to almost five years. I know I speak for all of the readers of the Cactus when I wish Sen. Kennedy and his family the best in his recovery. Hillary Clinton put the final nail in her Presidential coffin last week when she evoked the assassination of Bobby Kennedy to defend her staying in the Presidential race. “My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don’t understand it.” Now normally this would not have been that big of a deal except for the fact that the fore mentioned news was revealed earlier in the week and the fact that the 40th anniversary of Bobby Kennedy’s assassination is a little more than a week away. Either way it was a moment when one should have thought before one speaks. I will get back to Hillary and her comments in a minute in the race for the White House there is now a confirmed Presidential candidate and a Vice Presidential candidate, this past weekend the Libertarian party held it’s convention in Denver, and amazing enough was able to agree on a nominee without Michigan or the evil Florida, and without Super-Duper delegates. Now some of you are out there and are asking yourselves, there’s a party out there made up of Librarians, and the answer to that question is yes and they believe in no novel left behind. But seriously the Libertarians have decided on a candidate to go up against McCain and whoever is left standing between Obama and Clinton, speaking of Hillary the pant-suit wearing Liberal got quite a scare this weekend when the nomination process at the Libertarian convention came down to Bob Barr and Mary Ruwart now had Ruwart won the nomination then Hillary would have lost the ability to claim the title of the first woman nominated for the White House in 2008. Now getting back to the comments heard around the world, I see where she was heading at the beginning, however she lost me with the whole Bobby Kennedy reference. The point she was trying for was the fact that Bill did not receive the nomination until June of 1992, however there was no need to bring up one of the darkest days in our history, this was obviously a statement from a woman who has nothing else to lose in her campaign I would expect better from her. Well I have bored you enough for one week until then.