Frankly, I can't say it better than Jim Wright did, so instead of wasting your time blathering on about this, my forty-second Veteran's Day, I'm just going to hand you over to him.
I do want to emphasize Wright's point about the politically dangerous business of "heroing" soldiers in a notional democracy.
To lionize the military as we do, to exempt soldiers - because that's what "hero" does; it takes the object of that veneration out of the sordid business of daily living and makes them a shining object of veneration - from criticism and scrutiny is to make them the idols of your society.
That's not "democracy". It is "militarism", the heart of totalitarian doctrines like fascism and soviet-style-communism.
Like Wright, I'm not vauntingly proud of what I did in the Army.
I did my time, and did it well. I had some good times, some bad time - though not as bad as the troops who had to fight real wars had - had a good laugh and came home sound.
Which is a damn "good war" all things considered.
I'm good with my past.
But I'm concerned for my and my children's future. So I want you to think - just as it made me think - about what Wright says about this day.
For as he has said elsewhere; if you want a better country, you have to be better citizens.
2 comments:
When I was a boy it was called Armistice Day. What drove us to change a day that celebrated peace to a day that celebrated those who have fought in wars?
WW2, I think.
I mean...look at the difference in the way those two big wars are remembered.
WW1 is all "the old lie", bodies in no-man's-land, Sassoon and Owen and Remarque. There's no heroism there. It's all grief and loss and the dead.
The Good War is...well, that says it, doesn't it? It's "American Patrol" and John The Wayne storming ashore on D-Day and the Band of Brothers. Sure, there's a leetle tiny bit of sadness for the poor sods who didn't make it back.
But for every "Big Red One" or "The Best Years of Our Lives" there's a dozen "The Longest Day"s and "Twelve O'Clock High". It's damn near ALL heroism. I think that's when we started down this road towards Warriorism or whatever you want to call the freakishly slavish fealty we give to folks who join up.
I'm not sure, obviously - Vietnam makes kind of a big counterargument - but that's what occurs to me, anyway...
Post a Comment