Someone once noted that hatred and bullying are the marks of cowardice because the brave person simply faces the challenge and accepts it. Comments yesterday by a man who used a miserable excuse of a bone spur to avoid Vietnam denigrating the sacrifice made by NATO in the wake of 9/11 are despicable and disgusting.
This is the same man who dismissed John McCain’s service, capture, and torture at the hands of the North Vietnamese army. The hills and valleys of nations bear the names of American and NATO soldiers, men and women who gave their last full measure of devotion because they answered a call to service.
The Vietnam Memorial in Washington has the names of 58,395 men and women who served and died, including several friends from my old high school. They did not shirk but went in spite of doubts regarding the policies that led to it. Denigrating the sacrifice that NATO countries made after 9/11 is beyond the pale.
Prayer for the Day
Remembering your laughter, I still mourn your deaths,
For you were a joy to all of us back then;
Why, O God, do we still have war and violence,
That take away the lives of so many young people?
Let us hold their memory as sacred even as we work for peace,
And struggle to create just world for all.
In the name of the One who gives us strength,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
He has desecrated the memory of hundreds of British soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan, people who we called friends and comrades. If he was a man of honour, he would get down on bended knees to ask forgiveness from the families of the fallen.
Charles Stewart, British soldier who served in Afghanistan
Those who lack the courage will always find a philosophy to justify it.
Albert Camus, French philosopher who fought in the Resistance (1913-1960)
O, send out your light and your truth, let them lead me;
Let them bring me to your holy hill and o your dwelling.
Psalm 43: 3