My Files

They can’t understand why I cheer for the military. They can’t understand why I’m in favor of this war.

Well, My generation had Vietnam. My generation had 9-11. My generation has Iraqi and Afghanistan and Iran.

And they can’t understand that.

I see liberals every day on TV. I see journalists like Katie Couric, Sam Donaldson, and Peter Jennings talking about a “quagmire.” I see celebrities like Alec Baldwin, Ed Asner, and Danny Glover talking about how they’re ashamed of America. I see anti-war protesters, some my age still sticking with their parent’s beliefs, equating my President to Hitler. I see Vietnam Vets, like the man in my office, saying we should keep our military at home, and worry about protecting our own land, and not worry about what’s happening in the rest of the world. And I see Democrats, calling for a regime change, and urging us to put our safety in the hands of the strangers at the UN.

They do not represent my generation. The Greatest Generation is gone. The Baby Boomers are a setting sun. Generation X is dead. But Generation 9-11 is alive and well. I woke up on September of 2001, as did many others like me. We have to live with losing friends and loved ones that day. We have to live with being cautious every day after. We have to live with sacrificing some of our freedoms for the greater safety of others.

This is the dilemma we see every day. Me, and others like me, want to trust our government. We want our troops, who have selflessly volunteered to fight for us, to go wherever the terrorists are hiding, and kill them before they can kill us. We want our Homeland Security to tell us to be careful. We want to believe our President is doing what’s best for us.

My parent’s generation wants to recapture the 50's.

Some still live in those days of Richard Nixon when the government was corrupt.

My generation wants America to be right. And we believe we are.

This is our world war. My grandparent’s had Germany and Japan. We have Afghanistan and Iraq, not to mention Iran and North Korea. We are all soldiers, and we are all patriots. We fight every day, not only against those who wish to do us bodily harm, but those who wish to do us mental and spiritual harm as well. We fight against anti-war ideals and isolationism, which have never worked. We fight against a media inundated with negativity. We fight against politicians who wish to sell us out to the UN. And we fight against the sixties generation and their disciples, who still believe we are not at war.

But it is war. It’s a different kind of war. It’s not the kind our parent’s grew up with and it’s not the kind they can understand. But me and my generation, we’re coming to understand it very well.

So when this man, who works in my office, looks at me and says “You don’t know what it’s like.” I can’t help but think…

He’s got it backwards.

My Files

Sunday, August 26, 2007

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