What is the worst that an enemy can do?
By: Landon Owens
That is the thought that keeps running through my head. One that I have been mulling over for the past few days. What spurred the thought was the "National day of Service" that the President decided to make on Sept 11th. With the by-line of "commemorate and remember the 9/11 tragedy."
My first question is why do we need a "National day of Service"? This country is founded on service to others. We have an all volunteer military, last time I looked there has not been a draft for decades. More charities than you can name, even tax credits for charitable giving. Heck, there are a large number of COUNTRIES that would not be standing if not for our servitude. For most people, a week does not go by that they are not affected by this nation's service record. So why do we need a National day of Service?
My Second question is "why on 9/11?" that day was already claimed. It was called Patriot Day (See Public Law 107-89) by joint resolution congress has designated September 11 of each year Patriot Day. The day we are supposed to wear red, white and blue. Why are we lacquering over this title with a nice shinny phrase of "National Day of Service"? Is it because so many Americans' died that day? is it because of all outpouring of aid that occurred after/because of the attacks? In that logic why not call Dec. 7th, a lot people entered into service related activities after Pearl Harbor was attacked. How about June 6th the day that concrete started on Hoover Damn, the largest service project this country has ever undertaken. Maybe it's about American deaths... Why not the month of January, according to the bureau of statistics more people die in January than any other month. Oddly enough, January 3rd 1992 being the Day that the most Americans died, 7,422 across America for any and all reasons. So, I say call January 3rd the nation day of service. Why declare a new name for a day that already has one?
Which goes back to my first question. What is the worst that an enemy can do? I remember a book my mom talked a lot about called the Boomer's Bible. In it, Americans were called Yanks and one of our defining characteristics was that if we could label something a with a color we would kill it, with big pointy sticks. Red = USSR, Yellow=Japan, Pink-o = Communist, seems to hold true. Now we have gone further with that. Now we just shout out a color and react to it. Today's threat level is orange… so be ready with your pointy stick. We are almost at red. Red is throw the stick. Don't define it, just color it then kill it. Easy enough… like a first person shooter game, if it's colored wrong, kill it. But what happens when the enemy's threat color is red, white and blue?
So, again I ask, "why are we changing the name of 9/11?" Does it help our country to erase Patriots day and name it "National day of Service?" Are we being "good global citizen" by stopping to wear red, white and blue? Why is it that in 8 years, we have gone from celebrating American patriotism to erasing it? I am proud to be an American, I have a flag at my desk, and one on my car, I would have one on my house if my HOA would let me (another rant for another day).
What's the worst that an enemy can do? The worse that they can do is nothing. Because in doing nothing, our latest enemy has turned this country upside down and now we fight amongst ourselves, petty fights in plain view of the world. It's amazing just how much nothing can do.
My first question is why do we need a "National day of Service"? This country is founded on service to others. We have an all volunteer military, last time I looked there has not been a draft for decades. More charities than you can name, even tax credits for charitable giving. Heck, there are a large number of COUNTRIES that would not be standing if not for our servitude. For most people, a week does not go by that they are not affected by this nation's service record. So why do we need a National day of Service?
My Second question is "why on 9/11?" that day was already claimed. It was called Patriot Day (See Public Law 107-89) by joint resolution congress has designated September 11 of each year Patriot Day. The day we are supposed to wear red, white and blue. Why are we lacquering over this title with a nice shinny phrase of "National Day of Service"? Is it because so many Americans' died that day? is it because of all outpouring of aid that occurred after/because of the attacks? In that logic why not call Dec. 7th, a lot people entered into service related activities after Pearl Harbor was attacked. How about June 6th the day that concrete started on Hoover Damn, the largest service project this country has ever undertaken. Maybe it's about American deaths... Why not the month of January, according to the bureau of statistics more people die in January than any other month. Oddly enough, January 3rd 1992 being the Day that the most Americans died, 7,422 across America for any and all reasons. So, I say call January 3rd the nation day of service. Why declare a new name for a day that already has one?
Which goes back to my first question. What is the worst that an enemy can do? I remember a book my mom talked a lot about called the Boomer's Bible. In it, Americans were called Yanks and one of our defining characteristics was that if we could label something a with a color we would kill it, with big pointy sticks. Red = USSR, Yellow=Japan, Pink-o = Communist, seems to hold true. Now we have gone further with that. Now we just shout out a color and react to it. Today's threat level is orange… so be ready with your pointy stick. We are almost at red. Red is throw the stick. Don't define it, just color it then kill it. Easy enough… like a first person shooter game, if it's colored wrong, kill it. But what happens when the enemy's threat color is red, white and blue?
So, again I ask, "why are we changing the name of 9/11?" Does it help our country to erase Patriots day and name it "National day of Service?" Are we being "good global citizen" by stopping to wear red, white and blue? Why is it that in 8 years, we have gone from celebrating American patriotism to erasing it? I am proud to be an American, I have a flag at my desk, and one on my car, I would have one on my house if my HOA would let me (another rant for another day).
What's the worst that an enemy can do? The worse that they can do is nothing. Because in doing nothing, our latest enemy has turned this country upside down and now we fight amongst ourselves, petty fights in plain view of the world. It's amazing just how much nothing can do.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment