Our only national value is not freedom. When our veterans died, they were not just protecting our freedom. They were also protecting justice and fairness and democracy. They were protecting the idea that someday we may live up to our values.
The veterans most of us chose to honor this week fought against tangible enemies that threatened territorial borders with physical violence. We are now faced with faceless enemies that cannot be defeated with guns or tanks or heroic missions in fighter jets. We are plagued by an unrelenting new virus that has not just infected our bodies but so too our collective mind. We are confronted with figures and forces destabilizing our democracy. And we are witness to some of the most egregious violations of fairness and justice that the western world has seen this century.
We have been called as citizens to fight these forces of evil. We have not been given guns, we have been given masks. We have not been supplied with tanks, we have been supplied with facts. We have not been sent on missions, but instead asked to listen. Many of us are refusing to answer the call. We are dodging the draft. We are abandoning our posts. We are missing in action.
Yet we still share memes and photographs purportedly honoring veterans, while we shirk our own duty. We grip fiercely to the glory of those that fought before us, while refusing to acknowledge our own role in these present wars. We cannot grasp that it looks different from every war that has come before.
Every time you refuse to wear a mask, roll your eyes at well-meaning public servants, or flippantly disregard the lives and well-being of your neighbors, you dishonor every veteran that risked everything to protect you and your values. Every time you share an unfounded claim aimed at destabilizing our democracy, are seduced by a comforting conspiracy theory that absolves you of our difficult commitment to fairness, or fall into the trap of authoritarian promises, you dishonor every veteran that fought those same forces overseas. Every time you turn a blind eye to injustice, ignore the modern-day slavery of our prison system, or disregard the cruel and inhumane treatment of immigrants searching for freedom and safety, you mock the legacy of every veteran that laid down their life for justice and liberty.
You are being called to serve. It is not how your grandparents were called to serve. It is murkier, possibly harder, but no less serious than their world war or military draft. Do not share that photograph of someone in uniform, of an unmarked soldier’s grave, or of the American flag, if you are not prepared to fight for the freedom, fairness, and justice they are supposed to represent. Pick up your mask. Find the strength necessary to believe the truth. And muster the courage to confront our cruelty.
And if this tirade of lofty military allegory has failed to sway or inspire you, remember that the best way to honor veterans is to protect them. Stop sending them to war. Treat their PTSD. Make sure they have access to health care, food, and shelter.
America is an idea that has yet to be realized.
by Jerome Foster
from justseeds.org
Nobody asked me... 