Yesterday was Memorial Day, and all too often honoring the troops on such a day has become an exercise in manipulation. Its is manipulative in that to honor the troops, we are often told that we must say that they are defending our freedoms whenever they are sent in harm's way. And that support often becomes a way of getting Americans to support our government's interventions and even wars.
In reality, honoring the troops begins with honesty. And honesty begins with admitting that our troops are not always sent in harm's way to defend our freedoms. While claims about the legitimacy of some actions taken by our government are understandable if not true, the legitimacy of other actions taken by our government are without merit. For example, while our nation's attack on Afghanistan is understandable after 9/11, our invasion of Iraq was not. While our nation's response to the invasion of Korea was understandable, our support for South Korea's dictatorship which preceded the invasion and our involvement in Vietnam was not. And none of that includes the coups our government has been involved in.
All too often we Americans don't want to be bothered with learning about what is happening in other nations until our government decides to attack them in some way, shape, or form. But whenever our government decides to intervene in a nation, whether it is an invasion like Vietnam or Iraq, or through smaller actions such as supporting coups and regime changes, we put our people at risk. And if our only response to each government intervention in another nation is to thank the troops and others for their service and show how sad we are if they are killed or wounded in action and grateful for their sacrifice, then our response is on par with those whose only response to each each mass shooting is to say to the victims and their families: 'Our thoughts and prayers are with you.'
Our honoring the troops begins before they are sent in harm's way. It begins with educating ourselves enough about the world around us to know whether a given government intervention is worthy of the sacrifices that troops and others are willing to make. And if a given government intervention is not worthy of the lives of those who will be put in harm's way, then honoring the troops includes speaking out against our government as it seeks to intervene where it shouldn't.
