So, it's Memorial Day weekend. Here are the three duties we citizens owe to soldiers:
1. Do not send soldiers to wars unless you really, really, really have to do so. To ensure that, be skeptical of all claims to go to war, and put the burden of proof on those who want a war.
2. When sending soldiers off to war, make sure they are well prepared, and well protected as much as humanly possible.
3. When the soldiers are injured, physically or mentally, ensure soldiers are provided the care they need when returning home.
And please, let's dispense with the idea that our nation's soldiers fought for our freedom. Maybe one can say that about the few remaining living vets who fought in WWII. However, our nation's soldiers did not preserve our personal or national "freedom" in the wars in Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, the Dominican Republic, Grenada, Panama, Iraq (twice), Afghanistan, and the interventions that were not quite full on wars. Those have all been wars of choice, and wars primarily designed to fuel munitions makers' and financiers' profits, and, with the pomp and circumstance designed to keep our nation's citizens confused and ultimately pacified. It is why duty #1 is so important to bear in mind.
So, yeah, it's Memorial Day weekend. Maybe, in between the beers many of us consume, we can figure out how to be better citizens and truly show our concern for those who serve in our nation's military. And maybe, if we want to reflect about all the dead soldiers this weekend, we should start asking ourselves whether we have a better use for the 60% of the federal discretionary budget we spend on war-making.
