PrintJuly 1, 2010
Our Troops Need You! Yes, you.
Remember when George W. Bush was Commander in Chief and every single American was made thoroughly cognizant, 24/7, that we were indeed a nation at war? Remember when daily casualty counts were broadcast by every mainstream media outlet? Remember when nightly reporters' debates and soliloquies invariably centered on Iraq and Afghanistan?
Of course, we all remember.
And it would take a ninny of rare ostrich-level head-burying skill not to notice the dearth of war news now that we have a liberal/progressive kumbayah president as Commander in Chief. Why, in all probability, a great many Americans actually do think that all wars have been canceled around the globe just as the fantasy-land seas have begun to recede.
In the shallows of the liberal mind, if it isn't on the front page of the New York Times traitors' den or billowing from the rabid mouth of Keith Olberman or showing up in cute-Katie's death count, there is no war. Out of sight, out of mind, as the saying goes. And there is nothing more transparent about our mainstream media today than its willful see-no-war, hear-no-war, report-no-war disposition.
Ah, if only the liberal's world actually existed, what a merry band of brothers we would be.
Unfortunately, in spite of electing a peace-at-any-cost president, we are indeed still fighting an all-out war in Afghanistan. In fact, we have just this past year suffered the most military casualties of any of the total nine years there.
Yet if it weren't for General Stanley McChrystal's unprecedented published interview by the pop-mag Rolling Stone, the president's peevish bristling over the personal criticisms contained therein, and the current confirmation hearings of General-Betray-Us-turned-General-Save-Us-from-Ourselves Petraeus, it's doubtful that our formerly esteemed mainstream press would even be mentioning the war. And every liberal could remain blissfully unaware that somewhere in the blistering heat of an Afghan desert or the frigid cold of an Afghan mountaintop, a brave, young American is giving his every breath to protect and defend all of us, including said liberals.
The reality is what it is, folks -- which is why it painfully behooves every aware American to go the extra mile this year in supporting our troops with the morale boost upon which their very survival may well depend. When the Commander in Chief is doing all he humanly can to wash his own hands of the dirty business of national defense and a press willfully blinds itself to the harsh reality that the war continues -- at its most deadly pace to date -- and roughly half of the citizenry has turned its attention to entirely domestic affairs, then the rest of us must double down on duty and rise to the occasion.
This is why all of us who can must support this year's Move America Forward's Troopathon, a day-long webathon event which will collect donations for direct troop-support efforts.
I've spoken to leaders of some of the most successful troop-support organizations and have been told that this past year was quite dismal in the donations department. Part of that, of course, is explained by the wretched economy and the failing confidence that things will get better anytime soon. But perhaps an even bigger driver of the falloff in monetary support for organized morale-boosting initiatives and real packages for our men and women serving in harm's way is to the war's absence in our daily connections with the media. It's just plain old human nature to lose awareness of our soldiers and their need to know we care when they are hidden away in the media's protect-Obama closet.
Every single man and woman serving this nation in battle and putting his or her very life on the line 24/7 has the need to see that we the people are with him or her.
A little package containing some of the comforts of home might not seem like much, but the heartfelt letters from those who receive them tell a tale of intangible benefit. Through the package, held in his hands, a young American receives the message that he is loved and cared about, and that his daily sacrifice in the heat of battle means something to us. Through the package of small comforts received in the midst of war far from home, the soldier is reminded that he is not alone.
The package becomes a living sacrament of sorts, a real and visible symbol of the mystical bond each soldier has with the people of the United States of America, whose duly elected representatives have ordered him to the fight that may indeed take his own life. One simply cannot put a price tag on the demonstrated fealty of the American people when it comes to supporting the men and women whom we send to war on our behalf.
...Which is why our troops need you. Yes, you. And me. And every single American who has an ounce of respect left for our Constitution and the liberties contained therein.
As the wise old saying goes, Freedom was never free.
And verily, it never will be. When Americans stop being willing to pay the price -- each according to his call and station -- then freedom is deader than a doornail. Let's not let freedom die on our watch.
Please give what you can and show that you're willing to pay a price, however small, to stand with those who give all.
Kyle-Anne Shiver is a frequent contributor to American Thinker. She welcomes your comments at www.kyleanneshiver.com.
