Unlike the Democrats and Republicans, I have been against the war in Iraq from its inception. Its illegality was my favorite reason. (Since I plan to be a lawyer, I’m interested in legal matters!) I blathered about my opposition proudly on certain faceless blogs and email groups, but being a first-class weenie, I have mostly kept this to myself in person.
I admire the courage of soldiers. Like, a lot. My dad fought in World War II, and I have always been proud of his service. I live in an area where I’ve made friends with bunches of military families, and I love each friend a lot (which is what you do to friends). I have considered military service at various times in the past, and for several reasons unrelated to the topic of this post it just didn’t turn out to be for me. But I love people who sign on Uncle Sam’s dotted line. I have three church brothers/friends who are over there right now.
But here’s the deal: the popular philosophy in our country is glaringly obvious, that if you speak out against the war, you are unpatriotic and are not (here’s the phrase) “supporting our troops.”
Well, I don’t want to do that. So I mostly keep my mouth shut.
But this morning I ran across an article by Garrison Keillor that makes a lot of sense to me. Truth is that his argument won’t change the popular philosophy described above, but I sure wish it would. It isn’t a long article, and I wish everyone would read it. It deserves an open discussion.
Check it out HERE.
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April 17, 2008 at 6:10 pm
K. Rex Butts
Great post and great article. You know my reservations about this whole war thing. My grandfather served in WWI, My father was drafted into the Korean conflict (though the conflict ended before he was sent to Korea). My wife’s grandfather served in WWII out in the south Pacific waters. I admire the courage of anyone who sacrifices their livelihood for the sake of others (which is what all three of the above men believed they were doing). We today are asked to ’support our troops.’ Rather than supporting them by endorsing (lock, stock, and barrel) the decisions that politicians make, I believe the best way we can support them is to pray for them — for a soldier is nothing more than a human too in need of God’s grace and mercy to live in a world as fallen as ours is.
Rex
April 17, 2008 at 8:12 pm
alsturgeon
I’m with you Rex. Well said.