Smoke and Mirrors
Those who try to tell me that I am not “supporting our troops”, if I do not support this
war, are using Smoke and Mirrors - and they
clearly know it. They can try all they want - to try that on me, it will
not work. It may work for others who have
Nam guilt - but I am a bit to young for
Nam guilt - I was pre-teen when my two brothers and the rest of the Nam vets were coming home.
I have gone through some extreme measures over the years to thank our Nam vets and to give them a
Welcome home. I will and have
many times crossed a street... to shake the hand and thank a
Nam vet. I ride the local
transit bus and any time I see someone with a
veteran’s hat or anything else indicating they are a vet - I will walk over and offer them my hand and thank them. Sometimes they are surprised; sometimes they seem taken aback by it, but they all seem to 'get it'. I spent about 14 hours last
Veterans Day writing to the
Nam vets on AOL, each with a personal message based on what I'd read in their
profile. I sent a hundred or so of these messages - 1/4th were deleted so they never got my special message... (They assumed it was
junk mail no matter how hard I tried to make sure they wouldn't via the personalized subject... most junk mailers do the same on AOL). Many of the others were extremely touched, some of their responses made me cry - and will never be forgotten. I also did volunteer work for the WDVA (
Washington State Department of Veterans Affairs) . I could go on but I think you get my point by now.
Smoke and Mirrors
So this desperate attempt to
guilt us into supporting the war because if we do not, “we do not support the troops” - is all smoke and mirrors, and total
bullshit and will not WORK for me personally. Unlike the last "
Gulf War" which I did not see as a war, all I saw in that - was thousands more who will use up what little resources our Nam vets have when 9/10ths of them never saw a dead body, or went through the living hell our
Nam vets went through. No offense to any Gulf War 1 vets reading this, but this is how I feel.... If you feel that you went through even 1/5th of what our
Nam vets did, then that last comment is
not about you.
I do NOT have to agree with
this war based on a
political agenda I disagree with - in order to support our troops who are over there doing their duty and truly putting their lives on the line. And I personally find it offensive that people will USE the guilt
Americans feel over the Nam shame, to gain support for this war.
Smoke and Mirrors
You can say whatever you want to say, I know who I am and what's in my heart... and I do support these troops... and I think there's a good chance (unfortunately) they will have alot in common with our
Nam vets and deserve the same benefits our Nam vets have (or
SHOULD have!!) but I do NOT have to agree with Dictator Bush's personal agenda in order to support our troops... your Smoke and Mirrors game won't work on me. Because I
walk the walk and
talk the talk and I
love our Nam vets and I've taken alot more time to prove it then many of those using these Smoke and Mirrors for their own agenda.
Smoke and Mirrors
If your one of these using this pathetic
scam - using our Nam vets for your
agenda... ask yourself how many times you've walked across the street to shake the hand of a Nam vet? How many times have you found a way to thank them - show your appreciation on a day besides Veterans Day? If you can't answer the same way I can then shame on YOU - you don't support our Vets - you use them for your own personal agenda to prove your point. If you have walked the walk and are now using them for your personal agenda, ask yourself - did you agree with what went down in Nam?? No? But you can still show your thanks and appreciation for those who were there and went through living hell (and many still are today) - for their country.
Oh and yes I am aware that some people will wear a Veterans hat - who are not real vets... I'm not naive. But I'd rather shake the hand of 1 "fake vet" and 5 "real Vets" then use that skepticism to avoid doing the right thing and thanking and welcoming home our vets.
Now I suppose the Smoke and Mirror users are probably wondering why I’d post this if it’s not working on me... and I’m not feeling guilt? It’s because it makes me very angry personally that
you are using
our Nam vets and the injustices done to them to further your cause or your case. You can give me your little downvote - I really don’t care - I love our Nam vets and I wish you had enough
respect for them to not use them for your personal
agenda to prove a point. Your baselsess claim that those who do not support this war - at this time - in this situation, are "not supporting our troops" -
disgusts me. Have a nice War.
Smoke and Mirrors