"Red Fridays" - and a daughter's response

DancingBear

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Fri Sep-16-05 08:45 AM
Original message

"Red Fridays" - and a daughter's response

Edited on Fri Sep-16-05 08:47 AM by DancingBear

I posted yesterday about receiving a piece of jingoistic drivel called "Red Fridays" -about wearing red because only "we" support the troops, only "we" love God, only "we" can fight off the liberal media, and so on. Same old, same old. Problem was, we received it from my father-in-law. Below is the response that his oldest daughter - my wife - sent him back.

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No, I am not wearing red on Fridays – not if wearing red signifies on-going support of a regime that could care less about our troops, could care less about the planet, and could care less about the world.

I support the troops. I don’t support this foolish and totally unnecessary war. We send food, supplies, and money – even though food and supplies are supposed to be supplied by the military for them. We also support them by trying to bring them home – while there are still troops left to come home. My guess is if you asked a soldier what he or she would really want, their answer would be to come home. Prayers don’t stop many bullets or bombs these days.

Every month the Washington Post prints pictures of the soldiers who have died in Iraq. I look at each one of them. They sure look young – about half are younger than my nephew who just turned 22. I have three teen-aged nieces – some day I could be seeing their photos in the Post too. But I don’t remember seeing Barbara and Jenna Bush in their uniforms – off to fight for this noble cause. Wonder where they are anyway? But over a page and a half of pictures in yesterday’s paper were of kids who had died while our fine president was on vacation. Some of them came from Ohio – maybe I went to school with their parents.

For years people have been quiet, thinking that if you’re not with us, you’re against us and that to disagree is unpatriotic. What has it produced? A country where the blind leads the blind, perhaps? Too bad if people need to be vocal – when diplomacy is thwarted, when intelligence is manipulated, when the game plan is formulated years in advance, just waiting for the right opportunity to be implemented – what other options are there?

I was in Crawford with Cindy Sheehan in August. I consider it one of the better things I have done in years – regretted that I didn’t come earlier and was sorry I had to leave when I did. Of all people, SHE has a right to be vocal. And I’m still looking for Barbara and Jenna in their uniforms.

So tomorrow is Friday and I won’t be wearing any red. What I WILL be wearing is what I’ve been wearing for a long time – my buttons of support for Cindy Sheehan, my buttons that say Support the Troops, Bring them Home, my bumper stickers that say Support the Troops, Impeach the Commander. Based on the waves and thumbs-up I get on the highway, the real majority is driving on Interstate 66 right with me. And Sept 24 I will proudly be in Washington DC wearing my Cindy Sheehan T-shirt (brand new, saved for a special occasion), joining the majority who truly support the troops by wanting to bring them home.

And between now and the next election, I will be doing anything I possibly can to rid our country of the plague of George Bush and his administration, so those who once believed in this country and its promises can believe again. And so I won’t see my nieces’ pictures in the Washington Post.