Bang
So this post is about the way that we are often protected from the horrors of war in our society. I know that I myself was thankful today for those who gave their lives in the service of our country, but that it’s difficult for me to really know or appreciate what they went through because my societal interpretation of war is an awful lot like this graphic above. It’s clean, neat and straight. It’s easy to see and understand at a glance. It’s not complicated or distorted.
I’m no fan of war, especially those we’re in now, but they do take place, and as a result, people die. If you talk with a veteran, or look at raw footage on sites like Live Leak you might be able to begin to gather some superficial intrinsic understanding of the reality of war, but even that is likely wishful thinking. For those of us who have not seen war, our feelings about it are likely as shaped by movies or video games or news stories as anything else. As a result, I think it’s easy to let Memorial Day be a day about shopping or almost anything but memorial. I hope it’s just me, and that I’m missing what’s really going on.
Thanks to all of those who gave their lives pursuing our want to be free.
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