To Those Who Have Bled

Although this is not meant to piss anyone off, especially those with friends or relatives who have given their all for this nation of fools, it probably will anyway! Those who have themselves served or are serving probably won't appreciate it either, but some things just need to be said, so here goes! While saying the things that need to be said, however, we must always remember to say them in love!

Untold Americans have lost their lives in defense of this country, or at least this country's ideals! Cold Comfort is pretty much all we can give to the families of those who have lost friends or loved ones ( or both ) in the conflicts, both foreign & domestic, of the god ole' US of A! It would be useless to say that these death were meaningless, for there is no doubt in the minds of most Americans that these conflicts were not only needful, but necessary to the preservation of our freedom & for the good of the world through the spread of their brand of democracy!

There are those, though ( thank God this number is growing ), who have questioned the necessity of these conflicts, in particular the foreign one! Defense of our own country, from invaders foreign & domestic are necessary; war is hell, yes, but there does come a time when we must throw down the gauntlet & fight or die! The Revolutionary War was one such; the so-called Civil War was another. The defense of our own soil & even coming to the aid of our allies is a noble endeavor; we are not advocating passivity!

From the first Barbary Wary until now, though the perpetrators & protagonists may argue till they're blue in the face that these actions were, not only necessary, but unavoidable, the unavoidable & devastating truth is, THEY WEREN'T! Would we, as a nation be where we are today if not for the courageous & selfless actions of those who fought & died in these foreign conflicts? Probably not, but then we must ask ourselves this very important question; ''would that really be such a bad thing??'

Much of what's wrong with the State of the Union is almost wholly & directly attributable to its involvement in foreign wars! Some may try to deny this troubling fact, but really, given any real thought, this sobering fact is undeniable! War is hell & though some sort of conflict is almost unavoidable, even on foreign soil, one might say, the damage that foreign wars especially have done to this nation, both by depriving her of her fathers & sons, mothers & daughters, then by depriving many of those who do make it out alive of their humanity, make them almost useless & even dangerous members of society! This, thanks to our Heavenly Father, is not true of all who have fought & bled!

Democracy is a funny thing; 'we the people', or at least the majority ( 'might makes right'? ) may, however loosely, hold the reigns, but even those reigns, many fear, have slipped irreparably out of our cold, dead hands! Not to mention the fact that most who have fought in defense of this nation of fools wouldn't even have gotten involved unless they were being paid ( okay, so I DID mention it ), the majority of those, of late, especially, who have fought, bled & died for the ideals they were taught, swallowed the line of propaganda they were fed, hook, line & sinker! Did they have to go overseas to fight the enemies of our nation? They were told they did! Some might say it was the real enemies of our nation that told them those lies!

We have only begun to piss people off; much more needs to be done & is currently underway ( has been for years ) that, Lord willing, will have the lasting effect of waking the American people out of their stupor! Only barely do we mention the fact here that much of our foreign policy is very against Scriptural principles ( no surprise there! ), even though our foreign policy regarding the Middle East & Israel in particular is nominally based on the Bible!

'So, what's the use', some may ask, 'of pissing people off; even if it's for the purpose of waking people up?' Are we even sure that's gonna work? It might just get us killed, or at least ostracized, right!? We can only tell the truth in love & hope that it's received in the same manner! We do not wish to denigrate or downplay the meaningful sacrifice of countless thousands, even millions who have given their all, but neither do we wish to see countless more, like them, lose their lives in these conflicts which are not as necessary as they might seem!

Working & Praying toward this End,
Charles Haddon Shank