I read someone’s Facebook status this morning and I reeeeeeally don’t like it. There wouldn’t be enough space in a comment box to explain why, so I figure this is a good place to do it. Here’s what it says:
“A normal person has 1,000 wishes. A MILITARY PERSON only has one, to come home safely. I know 97% of you won’t post this as your status, but the 3% that do, are my friends. In honor of someone that died, a wounded warrior, or who is fighting for your freedom, please repost in their honor. God Bless Our soldiers,sailors and airmen past, present, & future. To those still serving overseas … Come home safe!”
This. Is. Crap.
I have friends in the military who have been stationed all around the world. The ones who are on base in places like South Carolina and Florida? They don’t feel an intense desire to come back to Minnesota.
One couple in Germany? They had a lot more wishes than just to come home. Their biggest wish was to adopt a child, so they wished for a healthy child, cooperative birth parents, a competent adoption agency… a lot more than just one wish. Yes, they want to come back to the States, but their lives don’t revolve around that. (Thankfully, their big wish was granted and they now have a charming little baby boy to call their own.)
The person who wrote that status message on Facebook may have had the best of intentions. He/she may have wanted to honor everyone in the military. However, to suggest that their return is the sole focus of their lives is trivializing and demeaning and it pisses me off.
Consider this my alternative status: “I would like to honor those people who made the ultimate sacrifice for their country. To the ones who have served, are serving, or will serve in the Armed Forces, thank you and I hope you have many more than one of your wishes granted.”
I agree wholeheartedly. Military personnel are people too, just like civilians. With the same hopes and dreams. And the same challenges in life that everyone faces. They just happen to have a job that’s a little more dangerous than most. They are not simple war automatons. And how about that work-life balance– hasn’t everyone said it’s unhealthy to make work the singular focus of your life, no matter what your profession? How does that figure into her status 😛
And… even giving her the benefit of the doubt in that when she said “overseas” she meant actively in battle zones, and not quiet, comfortable Germany– yes, maybe those in the thick of it might have “go home safely” on the top of their wish list… but that doesn’t mean the list isn’t longer with other stuff.
Hmm… I don’t know why I pegged the author as a “she”, since you’ve left it ambiguous. I guess women are more likely to copy and paste such chain statuses than men, so it was an educated guess 🙂
my dad served in the army stationed in Germany…a best friend, carried camera equipment during Vietnam….my nephew was stationed in Afganistan.. all army men; all different generations…all protecting our country and freedoms…normal people, who had done extraordinary things abroad and who did or continue to do extraordinary things here at home.. I honor whomever has made or makes the ultimate sacrifice for anyone!
..and in my book, the ultimate sacrifice does not have to mean death.
Seriously, fuck all of it.
I’m so sick of how pro-military everything is. I’m sick of military discounts on everything – Just told yesterday that if I was in the military, could get a discount on a gym membership. Really. Why no school teacher or nurse discount?
I’m also sick of “giving”, “volunteering”, etc. No. These are people who chose a path in life, and are being paid to do a JOB. A JOB! That’s a reality that I think an awful lot of people lose sight of. Plenty of people sign up for dangerous jobs, and many even lose their life in the course of doing their jobs. Where is the fisherman’s discount, for those longshoremen that risk their lives so Americans can enjoy their filet o fish burgers?
Oh, and this is all coming from someone from generations-deep military family, raised on an army base. .. before anyone chooses to flame me.
I would just like to say 2 things –
1. Shawn, I agree. I get what this person was saying, but there are many more wishes than to come home safe. (And – fyi, you made me cry again LOL)
2. Germany isn’t all that comfortable. We are very unwelcomed in the area we are stationed in. We have a “ticker” by the front gate of days since our last death, and at any given time there is at least one person in the hospital seriously wounded for just being here. We are told to never wear anything that pegs us as Americans, to talk quietly and to keep to ourselves when we go off post. There are marches several times a year to try to get us to leave, there are shootings and most often, brutal beatings with anything they can get their hands on, which is usually a crow bar.
OK – 3 things…
If you are sick of giving, then quit giving. We appreciate everything that everyone does, and uderstand that some people don’t want to give. That’s fine, it’s a free country, thanks to men (and women) like my husband.
Geez, what part of Germany are you stationed in? It doesn’t sound anything like the Germany I was stationed in. I loved it there, we loved the Germans, and the Germans loved us. Granted, I finished my tour and returned stateside a week before 9/11, so maybe the pre-and-post culture is different? Is that what happened?
You miss my point entirely. I’m sick of “giving” and “volunteering” being terms ascribed to military personnel.
To say they are “giving” themselves, or “volunteering for a dangerous job” indicates that they are doing so selflessly, and without reimbursement. It bothers me to no end that people lose sight of the fact that these are people who are being PAID to do a job. There is no “volunteering”, etc.
Oh, and really… the “free country” thing drives me insane. This is NOT a free country, by any means. Not even close.
Actually, I’m gonna do something I’ve never done before, though I have no idea why not. I’m going to challenge that notion.
I hear the “free country, thanks to the military” line a lot. Can you name one freedom that I enjoy, courtesy of the military? No theoretical freedoms, I’d love to hear one hard and fast FACT as to a single freedom that comes directly as a result of any military involvement.
I don’t want to get into a heated argument because I understand what you’re saying, especially the “not a free country” part, but asking for proof that the military has “kept us free” is like asking for proof that a lock on your front door has kept people from breaking into your house. It hasn’t happened yet, so we don’t have any proof as to why it hasn’t.
I don’t want to get into a heated argument
Why not? Heated arguments add spice to any blog post, don’t you think? 😉
Well, if we’re going to go with blind, unfounded statements, fine. I think that Michael Jackson’s birth was the event that kept this country “free”.
There are plenty of countries – smaller, easier to take over/subjugate countries – that do not have the bully-mentality military that the US does. There are countries who really have not been involved in major combat action in modern times, and there are countries whose action in any combat has been just to support the US.
Yet, none of those countries has had their freedom taken from them. Most of Europe, Canada – all countries on par with the USA, yet all free.
That right there is proof that you don’t need to be a aggressor country to retain “freedom”. Logically, that is far more proof that the US military has NOT “kept us free” than any argument could be made for the contrary.
Bully-mentality *military*? Or bully-mentality *politicians*, which are ultimately the ones who dictate where our military forces go and what battles we fight?