Combat PTSD Wounded Times
Kathie Costos
May 24, 2018
This morning I was reading KTRE News report about a veteran who went to take some pictures of the Memorial for Chris Kyle. This is what he discovered.
“I told him doing the right thing, is always doing the right thing. When you see something wrong and out of place you need to step up and do something for it. Don’t wait for someone else to clean it.” (click the link to read more on this.)Those words stuck with me as I was going through news reports. "When you see something wrong and out of place you need to step up and do something for it."
While it may feel good to think that we actually show appreciation for the men and women who stepped up to serve this country, the truth is, when we look at the results, the simple fact is, we do not.
Memorial Day "weekend" is starts tomorrow. It is supposed to be about remembering the men and women who sacrificed for the rest of us, but we settle for commercials focusing on sales, BBQs and the kick off of summer instead of remembering what this day should be.
We have demoralized it!
"to cause to turn aside or away from what is good or true or morally right : to corrupt the morals of"We settle too easily. We settle for politicians telling us that giving veterans a choice...sending them to for profit healthcare, is a good thing to do, we do not acknowledge these same people failed them in the first place.
While some see the bad news regarding the VA, too few see the history of how many decades Congress and Presidents have promised to repay the debt. None of the problems our veterans face after becoming disabled are new, but they know we'll just settle for this being the best response.
They do not want us to see they had to allow millions of veterans to suffer so they could destroy the VA to this point.
We settle for attention seekers running around the country screaming about how many veterans they think are committing suicide, yet, they offer no evidence they have any plan to change the outcome. They offer no evidence they have any kind of understanding what is in the reports they quote. They ignore the majority of the veterans still committing suicide many years after their service and needing the most immediate response.
We settle all too easily when members of the NFL decide they want to protest as an American, yet use the game to get attention for themselves from the fans of the teams, no matter if they are offended or not.
The protestors do not simply voice their opinion on the level of all other Americans. No, they use their fans to make a point. Then they are offended when the fans use their right to stop supporting them.
We settle for them saying they are not insulting the flag or the troops, yet we ignore the fact the flag and the troops were the inspiration behind the National Anthem.
We settle for the press trying to tell us that it is all because the President sent a Tweet instead of this actual patriotism we feel is so much deeper than any President or political party.
We settle for flags on the graves and speeches promising change while they are taking credit for what they now say needs to be changed? We settle for what they say they want to do, without ever apologizing for what they have already done to get it so wrong.
When I think of Memorial Day, I think of the veterans in my family who decided they wanted to do more than just settle for what was or complain about what they did not like. They cherished this country to the point where they were willing to die for it, yet we not so blind they were willing to settle for someone simply saying this is the best this nation can be.
They served in the military, and then served in the community. They voted for someone as much as they voted against someone else, hoping to have made the right choice.
I see a flag and remember how many caskets were covered by one. I hear the National Anthem and remember that song was inspired by the War of 1812 to honor those who put their lives on the line so that we could remain free.
Free to protest what we see as wrong, as much as we are free to stand up for what is right.
Free to spread a lie for discover what the truth is and share it even though we may be attacked for it.
Free to have reporters telling us what is going on and holding them accountable when they get it wrong.
Free to love as we choose, worship as we choose and fight back when someone decides to take that right away because they are offended we did not make the same choices they did.
Free to ask "which Christian nation" we are supposed to be when there are many denominations of Christianity because they do not have the same beliefs.
Standing up and doing the right thing is not easy for any of us but we need to remember those who stood up before us!
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