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On Memorial Day, another member of the YahooGroup that my dad belongs to posted this at the end of his message:
"At the end of the day, my life is good. Really good.
Throughout history, many brave and noble souls have risked and unfortunately
lost everything to perpetuate this whirlpool-spin of living free that we
enjoy, all against the constant degradation and disintegration of entropy.
I'm truly grateful. It is a 'debt' (of sorts) that can never be re-payed."
This is my dad's post in response:
"It is a debt that requires no payment other than the willingness to come to your country's aid when necessary. There are at least two main ways this can be done.
The easiest is to bear arms in the service of your country, though this may cause you to dispense with portions of your other, more important way, since you must subordinate your judgement to that of your superior officers. There can be only one head of an Army. An Army is not a democracy.
The more difficult is to become an informed and active participant in your government, never giving up your right of dissent in the decisions of those whom you have elected to leadership positions in your government. The British rightly refer to the Loyal Opposition. The majority must always both tolerate and encourage dissent and a thorough discussion of their decisions by both their opposition and the general public.
While bearing arms anyone with a functioning mind must, at times question the adequacy of the officer who is in charge of him/her. Unfortunately, this questioning must go unvoiced. One may not verbalize discontent; to do so in the military is to be insubordinate and insubordination is not tolerated. It led me in Korea to an extremely touchy and scary situation.
When troops were moved to civilian areas, they were not issued ammunition for their rifles because it was considered bad policy. The brass felt there were too many inherent dangers. As a result of this policy one fine day I found myself in the back of an open six-by truck, along with a dozen fellow Marines in downtown Seoul on riot control duty. As we rode through the streets an occasional rifle shot could be heard and tension built, but, of course, with no ammunition in our M-1's we could not respond had there been anything to see to respond to. Suddenly at an intersection we came to a stop. A surge of people, Korean civilians, shouting and yelling came surging toward us.
Expecting to finally get ammunition with which to defend ourselves, we were instead given the order, "Fix bayonets and dismount!"
We, of course, did as ordered. As if by magic the angry crowd disbursed, giving us a wide birth. The correct order had avoided a potential blood bath. Had we gotten the bullets we craved, it's highly possible some lives could have been lost.
In a democratic republic, dissent should always (yes, even in time of war) be voiced. Why more people voiced no opposition to the very concept of a preemptive war, a concept contrary to two hundred years of American history was raised in Congress, I'll never know, but the failure to have it happen was instrumental in releasing the wrong headedness that has seen the present administration actively seek to erode our constitutionally granted freedoms more than at any other time in our history. The constant invasions of privacy both with and without judicial review is more in keeping with a totalitarian than an elected government. The dismissal of basic human rights they have perpetrated in the name of battling terrorism is even more unconscionable. Our failure to be an informed and vocal citizenry is much to blame. Had we properly exercised our duties of citizenship, failing quite similarly to the German people when Hitler took over the republic and replaced it with a dictatorship. We don't have their excuse of being unfamiliar with a republican form of government. We know the rope and have still let ourselves be steamrollered.
If you have exercised your role as a citizen the debt has been paid in full!"
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