What Bothers Me...

Warning: The following post may turn into a rant. Don't say I didn't warn you...

Do you want to know something that really bothers me? There are a lot of things that bother me, but this one thing has been on my mind the most. What really bothers me is people's lack of respect and appreciation for our military. Maybe I'm a little biased because my husband is in the military or maybe having a husband in the military has just made me notice the lack of appreciation even more...

It seems to me that a lot of people have absolutely no respect or gratitude for our nation's military. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last time I checked these are the men and women who have voluntarily put their lives on the line so that each of us can be free. Because of them we live in a country where we are free to worship, free to speak what we want, and free to do many other things as well. If it weren't for them, we wouldn't have freedom at all.

Numerous times I've heard people bad mouthing our military. I've heard "They're just in it for the money and the free education" or "They don't deserve our support in a war for oil" or many other things. I'm tired of hearing these things. I'm tired of the disrespect. If someone wants to join the military for a free education, then kudos to them. They're signing a contract that may require them to give their life and in return they're getting a little paycheck and some money towards an education (yeah, for those of you who don't know, the education isn't always free). I think the education is the least they can get in return for their sacrifice. So quit complaining! Also, I don't care what you think about the war - whether you think it's right or wrong - you should still support our military. They don't make the decisions to go into combat - they just listen to their commander and go out to fight when they're told too. They need our support!

Another thing that bothered me regarding the lack of respect and gratitude for our military is our president's recent decision to skip the Memorial Day services at Arlington National Cemetary and instead head out to Chicago for the holiday weekend. This just goes to show where the president's priorities are. He's chosen to go to Chicago to "keep a campaign promise" instead of honoring the lives of our nation's heroes at Arlington. I mean, seriously, our nation's commander-in-chief can't even lead by example and take the time to honor those who've given the ultimate sacrifice. If he doesn't appreciate our men and women who serve, then how can we expect others to appreciate them. It's this thing called "leading by example"...

Then there's the whole "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" vote that was scheduled to take place today in Congress and the Senate. Of course they want to repeal this policy. But when they decided they wanted to repeal it they said that they'd take a survey of all military and their families to get their opinions on the policy and whether or not it should be repealed. The "survey" (more like an open forum to debate it) was started about a week ago and hasn't even been formalized or finalized. However, the vote was scheduled to take place today. Just another example of a lack of respect for the military. Each military branches' Chiefs wrote letters to express their concern for conducting the vote so soon and also expressing their opinion that voting on this issue so soon was breaking a commitment to the military (the commitment was that they'd do the survey and hear everyone's opinions before voting on the issue). So, here we see it again, broken commitments and promises. In my eyes, that's blatant disrespect.

Of course, to make my point clearer, there's also wacko "churches" like Westboro "Baptist" Church who consistently show a blatant disrespect and hatred toward our military. They picket military funerals, write hate letters to military families, and are even planning on picketing the services at Arlington National Cemetary on Monday. They mock the sacrifice of our men and women, yet somehow get away with it. It just sickens me to say the least.

But, the moral of all of this ranting is that we really should appreciate and respect our men and women in the military. Honestly, I wouldn't want to even imagine what this country would be like if it wasn't for them. Come to think of it, this country wouldn't exist today if it weren't for them. So, have a little respect and gratitude for them. They sacrifice so, so much for us yet half of us just bad mouth them and make fun of them in return. So, next time you see a member of the military, hold the door open for them and as they pass by say "thank you" to them for what they do. I can pretty much guarantee that you'll get a shocked look in return, mainly because they're not used to hearing those words...

- Jenn