Memorial Day 2013
“Like every Memorial Day, much love to my people serving in the military and a middle finger to the people that send them to die in wars they will never send their own kids too. And just as much love to my people that risk their lives everyday working for peace.” – Subhash Kateel on his Facebook page
Today is Memorial Day. We raise our flags, salute our soldiers and cry a tear for those who have died “to make us safer.”
We live in a scary world. Not a day goes by that we don’t hear of a bomb exploding somewhere killing mothers and children, or kids murdering each other in some neighborhood school. And now we even have drones that heartlessly eliminate lives while the shooter sits behind a computer screen in air-conditioned comfort.
Violence is venerated, even glorified. Go to the movies, watch TV or check out the commercials for the latest kids’ video game if you doubt this.
On this day I remember my brother Angel, a Vietnam veteran who passed nearly two years ago. He died too young, of cancer – caused by Agent Orange, a chemical weapon employed by the U.S., to which he was exposed to during that horrible war.
The fact is all wars are horrible. Too many kids (or what would you call an 18-, 19- or 20-year-old soldier?) exposed to what’s worst of humanity.
So today I salute the soldiers. They deserve our respect.
But I question the too many unnecessary wars. Blame is put on others while closer study reveals we may be the ones to blame. Go back to the beginning. Study what’s caused the resulting unrest. And there you may see the U.S. and its powerful hand.
On this Memorial Day and those to come, we need to venerate our young soldiers and for that matter all our young people, brave and proud. They are our greatest resource. Greater than any oil field in the Middle East – yet we trade them like cattle for the fancy of a few with lust for power who send them to die.
For what?
Today we should look inward as a nation, as a people, and figure out how to avoid wars in the future. Something we have not been very good at for more than half a century.
Alvaro F. Fernandez
