First and foremost I must state that I have the memory capacity of about a goldfish. Hence why I forgot that I was the proud possessor of a blog that no one fucking reads. No great loss there I supposed.
Now, for a bit of a catch up since that last very anger filled post about my cessation of employment from my last job.
I'm in the United States Navy. Hoo-motherfucking-ya! I swore in November of last year, graduated boot camp in January, and I'm currently in school for the job I'll be doing for the next few years. I'm not going in to much detail about what I do simply because I want to maintain a level anonymity. So far, I love what I'm doing. I think it worth leaving it at that, a necessary detail required to understand the perspective in which I write.
Now this is Memorial Day weekend. I haven't been in for even a year so I have very little to weigh on in terms of sacrifice and to do so would be a complete demonstration of my ignorance on the subject. I did, however, read about the comments Chris Hayes made on MSNBC and I feel I can weigh in on those without too much of my inexperience showing. After reading the excerpt of his statement, I don't feel in anyway that his statements were designed to be disrespectful to those who have given the ultimate sacrifice. Quickly, I read, were people calling him "un-American" but I think those people forget what it means to be an American, to be a patriot. Patriotism isn't single minded devotion, yes-manning to every decision and proclamation made by one's government. To insist utter, unalterable agreement is to insist on totalitarianism. There is nothing un-patriotic about an opinion. Perhaps one of the most patriotic actions an American can take is to express their views about the actions and attitudes of their government. The freedom to do so is one of the cornerstones this country was built on and what people have died to protect. A dialog must be maintained in this country about the decisions the government makes for this country to progress. Mr. Hayes statements weren't, in my opinion, so much about the loss of life but rather the morality of the decision by the government that brought those individuals to that location where the ultimate price was paid. The morality of war must always be questioned. Personally, I may not always agree but I will obey the orders given to me because it is my job and duty to do so, to put aside my own views for the sake of the mission. Perhaps this is a bit of cognitive dissonance, a double minded nature that only makes sense to me but I can lay my head down at night peacefully. So it goes.
