A hero soldier's life should be worth more than 111 words

A hero soldier's life should be worth more than 111 words
by
Chaplain Kathie

111 words to go with a headline "Hero Miami Soldier" and one of those words was a typo. How do you sum up the death of a soldier called hero in 7 lines of a news report? How do you do it without even checking the typing?

Hero Miami Soldier Killed in Combat in Iraq
Army tanker to be awarded Purple Heart and Bronze Star
By BRIAN HAMACHER
A hero soldier from Miami has died in a firefight in Iraq, according to the Department of Defense.

Staff Sgt. Amilcar H. Gonzalez, 26, died in Ash Shura when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire on May 21.

Gonzalez was was assigned to,,,,,,,,

read the rest of these few words here

Hero Miami Soldier Killed in Combat in Iraq

This is one of the biggest problems in this country right now. AP stated today that there have been 1,000 deaths in Afghanistan. The problem is, according to ICasualties.org, that number was reached well before today.

2001 12
2002 49
2003 48
2004 52
2005 99
2006 98
2007 117
2008 155
2009 316
2010 140
Total 1,086
http://icasualties.org/OEF/index.aspx

I am well aware of how easy it is to make typing mistakes, since I do it all the time. No matter how important a subject is to me, sooner or later I blow it with what I end up typing. This can be forgive on this article, if you can call it that, but the rest is very troubling. Not just from this reporter but from almost all reporters attempting to cover the fallen, the wounded and the suffering as well as the heroic stories we never seem to be hearing about.

I've heard it said that the rest of the American people want to honor the troops but they have a hard time understanding them. After all, when you think about how focused we are on our own problems and the stories that manage to become headline news, it is easy to just turn on American Idol or Desperate Housewives to get our minds off the problems. Yet when you actually look at the people we consider worthy of our attention, we really don't understand them either.

Celebrities, rich, famous, beautiful and most talented but do we really know what it is like to be one of them? Traveling around the world, eating exotic foods, having people take care of them all the time? Do any of us really know what that's like? No but we seem to want to read everything about their lives, especially their sex lives. We want to see pictures of what they are wearing and where they are traveling to. We want to read about their exploits and share their heartaches. We pay attention to them.

Sport figures, we watch their every move. We pay attention to what they are doing and what they are achieving for their team. We want to know about their personal lives but none of us will ever know what it is like to be one of them.

Politicians get our attention when they are running for office or do not do what we want them to do when they get in. Even though they are responsible for the direction this country will go in, we are more interested in their personal lives, especially their sex lives.


Our sense of values is messed up and we follow where the reporters lead instead of trying to get them to report on what matters to us. Amazing when you think that the above minorities the rest of us pay attention to are held up above us when real heroes risking their lives everyday end up being a news report of 111 words and an old figure reached that AP decided to release today, the kick off to Memorial Day weekend.

This will be the last post until Sunday. I am heading into Washington DC for the ride to The Wall and visit a few friends. I'll post about the trip when I get back.

Try to remember what this weekend is supposed to be about if you have other plans.