It is Memorial Day and I am looking forward to an evening of no work hours. My night job consists of alternate weekends but I have worked two weekends in a row because my whiny partner needed to go to the rodeo three nights running. You would think one night of animal exploitation would be enough. I know for a fact the rodeo was here for two nights only but Samantha lies and that makes for a turbulent work situation. Usually I also work Mondays but my employer says there are no funds in the budget to pay me time and a half on the holiday. This would result in an extra $14.61 according to my calculations, but what do I know of management and money.
My dad will be in the parade today because he is the oldest Marine in the world. They will drive him around in an open convertible and he will hate this, the attention you know, but he comes from a generation where duty still meant something. Last year the sign on his car said "Sone Giegerich." How you can correctly spell Giegerich and misspell Sonny remains a mystery to us all. Dad said some of those jarheads are not too steeped in smartness. Dad also comes from a generation where family nicknames like Sonny and Buddy were acceptable and encouraged, thankfully that's passed.
Until PTSD was recognized we gave no consideration to returning veterans. We just figured they were glad to be home and out of those ugly clothes and not eating out of cans. How could we expect a young person to be plucked out of their high school gym, set down in an arena of horrors and butchery, ordered to kill and maim other young persons and then take the next plane home and resume plowing the family farm. And yet this stupidity prevailed and kept the war machines churning all for the sake of bucky blue patriotism. Feed me another, oh Great White Father.
These days the statistics of human war damage are blatantly out there and not buried under the mediocrity of every man's life. And I saw a photo in the newspaper, the new defense secretary of Spain patrolling her troops, her eight-month pregnant belly preceding her. What is the chance this woman will agree to a war, a process that would kill children and other necessary persons. With women more prominent in the international scheme perhaps we have a chance at a more humane existence and those battlefield cemeteries will lose their hold on us and our history books.
My dad will be in the parade today because he is the oldest Marine in the world. They will drive him around in an open convertible and he will hate this, the attention you know, but he comes from a generation where duty still meant something. Last year the sign on his car said "Sone Giegerich." How you can correctly spell Giegerich and misspell Sonny remains a mystery to us all. Dad said some of those jarheads are not too steeped in smartness. Dad also comes from a generation where family nicknames like Sonny and Buddy were acceptable and encouraged, thankfully that's passed.
Until PTSD was recognized we gave no consideration to returning veterans. We just figured they were glad to be home and out of those ugly clothes and not eating out of cans. How could we expect a young person to be plucked out of their high school gym, set down in an arena of horrors and butchery, ordered to kill and maim other young persons and then take the next plane home and resume plowing the family farm. And yet this stupidity prevailed and kept the war machines churning all for the sake of bucky blue patriotism. Feed me another, oh Great White Father.
These days the statistics of human war damage are blatantly out there and not buried under the mediocrity of every man's life. And I saw a photo in the newspaper, the new defense secretary of Spain patrolling her troops, her eight-month pregnant belly preceding her. What is the chance this woman will agree to a war, a process that would kill children and other necessary persons. With women more prominent in the international scheme perhaps we have a chance at a more humane existence and those battlefield cemeteries will lose their hold on us and our history books.
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| They got it right. |
1 comment:
I swear I did not steal your idea; didn't see this till the day after I posted mine. And I put the blame on testosterone for all the wars and other things.
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