I just received a letter from a cousin of mine. This man is enlisted in the military, comes from a military family (one cousin KIA Iraq, father and one uncle Vietnam, cousin Desert Storm, Grandfather WWII Europe), is a volunteer fireman (also a fireman family, numerous aunts and uncles involved in fire departments across rural America). This guy knows what he's talking about. He can explain what a mortar attack sounds/feels like without making shit up or thinking about movies. And he is right. I know that I said this was going to be MY blog, but when I got this email from him, it occurred to me that I don't think I could have said it any better, and he is far more qualified a source. I submit this letter now, in its entirety:
Viva Le Revolution! Maybe I should be careful what I say, I am in the military and as much as I hate it Obama is still my boss, but dammit when the hell are Americans going to be proud of being Americans again? We all have to quit being lazy and earn our pride once again. Sift through the bullshit, kick out the fat cats and institute a Republic that WILL stand for us! It's time for a REAL change! We need it now more than ever. However, remember JFK’s quote “Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country.” We all feel like we are entitled to our riches, but this country was built on people that struggled in a new world to just survive. In other words, why is Paris Hilton famous? Why are our beloved sports stars being paid millions a year? For that matter, why has Brad Pitt become the man that every woman wants to be with and every man wants to be? What exactly have these people done to benefit society? The answer is entertainment! We have become a civilization that doesn’t care about society. All of these people are merely our court jesters. Their only value in life is to distract us from a little thing that I like to call life. What is sad is that a lot of Americans see these people as our “heroes”. Is it only because the ‘idiot box’ told us so? In my opinion, people should be paid based on how much they help society. Do you remember when 8 men from the “Black Sox” back in 1919 were so poor that they threw the World Series just to make a good living? Now, I’m not saying these men should have been paid such ridiculously low wages (they should have been paid a decent “working man’s wage”), but these men as well as our modern day sports icons should be paid in the amount that they have helped us….Like I said, they are merely court jesters. The only people actually being paid what they’re worth are doctors, let’s face it these people save our lives daily. How about our teachers, policemen, firemen, soldiers, and paramedics? How much do you think these people make a year? They’re amongst the least paid people in America. These people are our REAL heroes and yet we cast them aside and just expect them to do there jobs. For example: Whenever there is a war, the soldiers are sent to a foreign land where they are scared and unsure of what the enemy is planning…do you think they went there for the pay? How about when a teacher comes across a troubled student that has a learning defect …do you think she is planning on how much money she will earn from selling this story to a Hollywood agency? Or a fireman that hears a scream from the second story of a burning apartment complex and sprints into a wall of fire, hoping that the patient will still be alive by the time that he gets to the top of the stairs?...Do you think any of these people have chosen the almighty dollar when they decided to join their respective career fields? The answer is NO! These people joined their respective career paths for one reason…they care! They care about you and me! Why are these people not praised? Why do they not make the millions of dollars a year that our court jesters make? Our values need to change America! Why not celebrate the heroes amongst us? I really don’t care how far you can throw a football…Can you save a life?...Can you climb a stairwell not knowing what you’ll find at the top of a burning building? Can you educate the youth?...Can you stop a terrorist from planting an IED that will kill my cousin?...Can you…? I have to admit that I’m slightly bias, I’m both a soldier and a volunteer fireman, but that doesn’t mean that I am obliged to sit idly by and watch MY America fall to the people that are blinded to the glitz of Hollywood! WAKE UP AMERICA!! It’s up to our generation now to fix our priorities! The real heroes are the heroes amongst us!! We live in the greatest free nation on the planet, yet we are hiding from ourselves. After 9/11 I saw that most of us are true patriots. We’ve all receded in our shells since then, but the spirit is still within us all! It’s time for ALL of us to stand up and do whatever it takes to do what we need to do to take back our America. WE ARE THE NEW PATRIOTS!!! The only way to change America now is to voice ourselves!
At the end of this he issues an open invitation to debate at his personal email address, however I have removed that for privacy reasons. If you do feel the need to debate, however, contact me here and I will supply it to you.
Go forth, then, and be proud of what you do.
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