It Is Mostly The Same Refrain On This Veteran's Day....

It is Mostly The Same Refrain On This Veteran’s Day….

I am far removed from my duties in the United States Army, but I still have a Jesus’ heart of flesh for those who are serving and those who have served in the Armed Forces of this great country. Notwithstanding that the usual suspects will come out with well meaning, scripted words and that the optics of red, white, and blue on the surface will tickle the eyes and that many will tear-up in hearing the honey-suckled-voice of the late great Ray Charles singing, ‘America,’ and for moments of the time, tomorrow, many hearts will bleed America, as they should. In the same tomorrow, we are going to hear the mostly fulsome praises from some politicians and celebrities, who are going to highjack the face time reserved for the Veterans… to mark, what should be a mostly, joyous occasion - but here I come with the necessary, needed ‘wet blanket’ because, by all accounts, all is not well among our Veterans.

My beloved wife takes it hard when she sees or hears of the travails of the Veterans; I do not know if her empathy is due to the fact that her husband ‘Served’ or it is borne out of her Christianity that comes to the fore where she have read of the Christ saying in the Book of John 15:13, “Greater Love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends….” I only the Messiah’s words would manifest for those who were willing to give their lives because, honestly, the love that many of these Veterans have shown for our beloved country has not been reciprocated. Whether it is the deluge of suicides or the heart-wrenching hardships that many of our Veterans are facing, with no politician seems to know how to solve the problems, we are losing the battle - can you imagined that there are soldiers and their wives, who have to be on welfare just to survive?

Come fiscal year, the politicians will be out securing the billions for many who for generations refused to find gainful employment, and, who, in a million years would not defend this country, even if the freedom-hating hordes were at the Canadian border. Many of these soldiers who go and fight our wars have nothing to return to and the sick irony is that many of the leaders and their respective tribes that our soldiers helped liberate in far away countries are living better than these soldiers, on account of the billions stolen that were meant to build infrastructure. Furthermore, it is not enough that those who are willing to work have a difficult time meeting ends meet, but many of those who are suffering from the psychological ravages of war, do so in silence… nursing unseen mental wounds and attended by what is tantamount to shoddy medical treatment. Only through the grace of Christ Jesus why we do not have more Veterans ‘going postal’ because, of what must be a frustrating ordeal when they returned after serving God and country.

I sincerely hope that this blog or other writings of this nature would cause someone to give to charities that support our Veterans; and even here, I must convey a caveat because there are charities out there who are taking advantage and scamming… and so, one must be careful when giving. I know that we all could have spirited debates on whether the wars our Veterans fought in were legitimate - but soldiers do not have the luxury of asking or debating the merit of that question. As a matter of fact, the fact that we can have that debate on whether a given war was legitimate is because of many a Veteran’s sacrifice! For those who are interested in giving, “The Wounded Warrior Fund’ is a good charitable outfit that has been vetted… meaning that what is given for the Veterans does reach them.

I pray that the Good Lord will bless many of us… so that, we, in turn, can give to many of our deserving Veterans. And while I am on the subject of giving, let me thank all those celebrities (Gary Sinise) and athletes who give of their time, and moreover, their money to support Veteran causes. I hope that we as a country that have ‘midasly’ gained from our Veterans’ sacrifices can find a solution to resolve the lingering sufferings of many of our Veterans. I say to America that there are hordes of patriotic men and women… endowed with dogged discipline and a work ethic and who are ever eager/willing to work; incidentally, years ago, I used to listen to the rapper Ice Cube and from his album, Death Certificate, on one of his songs, he raps that the typical soldier does more by six a.m. than most {people} do in a life time - granted, I had to paraphrase the lyrics because the rapper used more colorful language, but I am certain that you got the gist.