In Honour of Those Who Served

Today is Memorial Day in the U.S.

A day set aside to remember, honour, mourn and thank those who have paid the highest price while wearing the nation’s uniform and under our flag.

Thank you for having served in the far past, and in the always-fleeting present.

What is a soldier?
A soldier is someone who is trained to destroy, and to protect.
A soldier is someone who is prepared to kill, and to die.
A soldier is someone who every day struggles with the intimate reality of the soul.
A soldier is a parent, a child, a sibling, a friend, a lover, a spouse.
A soldier is someone who serves – the people, and other soldiers.
A soldier is someone who chose, or was chosen, to give this service.

There are no ‘Citizen Soldiers’.
A soldier is a citizen…
Who wears our uniform and offers his or her life to serve.
Some ask, what is the difference between a soldier and a mercenary?
A mercenary is hired.
A soldier is called.

Thank you to all who have, and still answer, that call.
And today, thank you to those who have fallen as soldiers so that we might live as citizens.

We love you, we miss you; thank you.

My Heart is Breaking...

and this blog entry is not a joke.

I just caught sight of a headline regarding someone the mainstream press is referring to as 'the Al-Qaida Doctor'.

The story is all cookie cutter, Pavlovian Western-attention-span reporting (aka - lousy) but what's just as bad are the readers comments to the article. Worse actually. There's really no way for a non-hack-savvy user like myself to find out if this are 'plants' or real people, but would it matter?

I had heard about this case a while ago, did a flurry of searches and reads on it and though it was obvious how the prosecution was going to approach the case, even I underestimated how viscious and corrupt the US societies and systems have become.

I'm not just talking about the taxpayer sponsored brokerage house we call a government, but the whole deal, all of it, internal, external, from top, down and sideways. I can't remember if I've already made this statement here, but forget about 'conspiracy theories'. You don't need conspiracy when you've got collusion. And we are all inclinded towards collusion when we feel helpless in the face of overwhelming odds. Right now, I include myself in that number.

To paraphrase Pogo, we have seen the enemy - in the mirror - so we've decided to storm out the door unkempt.

Yeah, I know, this barely makes any sense. But I swear I am so ready to break down and cry. We, the United States and the people who claim it as our country; we have turned into something terrifying, hideous, unfathomably pathological and driven to obsessively maintain a myth about ourselves, our history, and what we do.

And the most terrifying thing to me? I watch as I grow more helpless everyday, from my own fear more than anything else. I know what we're doing, what we're becoming, and I do less each day to stop it. I am more and more a coward each day.

I apologize. I am so sorry. I am so sorry.