I awakened this morning with the overwhelming urge to say this:
I spent my formative years in a progressive family: My mother worked at the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard during WWII and my father served four years in the Pacific theater working his way up to the Philippines and preparing for the ground invasion of Japan In which he almost certainly would have died. . Both parents were incredibly committed to the sanctity of the country and the human race. I have often written about them here because although flawed In many ways, they were true patriotic Americans who wanted only what was best for the country and for its people.
My parents were vociferously anti-Vietnam war demonstrators and activists, to the extent my father could be an activist as he was a federal employee. There were two things however which were sacrosanct And never to be questioned in a hostile sense. The first was that you do not perform or counsel traitorous behavior to your country under any circumstances. The second was that you never disparage honorable service men or women who are veterans, have injuries, have died in the line of duty, and especially those who have lost family members in the service of their country.
A couple Years ago I related a story wherein my mother had this ongoing fight with this woman down the block who was pro Vietnam war and had sent her children off to the military. One of the children died in the line of duty, And my mother sat me down and said “OK no more, she’s suffered enough - She has lost a child and I’m not contributing to that horror. She has her opinions and her beliefs and she lost a child due in no small part to them and she needs to live with that but she does not need me to remind her of it. True to her word, she treated her very gently and with dignity from that time forward.
My point is, Albeit wordy, That even in my household where in vociferous discussions would take place as to the demerits of various people, politicians, friends, family members, and just about anybody else who crossed our paths, we would never ever disparage our national service people of any stripe, Especially those in military. There was a tacit assumption that although the mission maybe misdirected, the vast number of soldiers were to some fair degree honorable and loyal to their country, and willing to sacrifice their lives and limbs literally, for it.
I can only imagine the disgust my parents would exhibit if they had read the story in the Atlantic last night. It’s a disgrace to the human race.
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