Veteran's Day

Brent and I have differ and agree in our opinions on the Armed Services. He argues it is no longer a service because the military is paid. They voluntarily sign up, no longer a conscription or sacrifice of time and talents. I disagree. In my eyes it is still a service their pay is no way compensatory to the risk they run of losing their lives.

He and I both agree our country is imposing a specific way of life and government on others which may not mesh with their cultural and religious ideals. We seem to have become a self righteous. In war there is no right side. Everyone is a loser. Regardless of motives or results, war does not please or serve God, only the enemy of all righteousness. There is always a better way. I haven't always felt this way. I used to think you could be on the "right side" in a war. No longer.

Here is a little clip from Ellery's Veteran's Day program with the Elementary School Choir she is a part of.

We also agree our current wars are not defensive but aggressive. I have to believe most soldiers feel they truly are defending freedom and the "American" way of life, they feel is so threatened. They are innocent of motives of greed and power that may underlie things at a higher level.

I was born with my Dad's rosy glasses. Sometimes they serve me well. Other times they don't.

I wish our resources were diverted elsewhere, instead of building up the military-industrial complex. I am a far greater advocate for peace than I used to be. I remember feeling glued to the television, waiting to find weapons of mass destruction. Disillusionment has overtaken my zealousness. Far too many times I am wrong about things to be so bold as to try and impose my way of life on someone else. There are far too many good, peaceable people in the world of all faiths and political ideologies for me to be to pompous and think my vision of the world is correct.