Friday, July 3, 2015

Thank you for your service

It's that wonderful time of year in New Mexico, when we pack dried-out tents full of explosives, which are sold by sweating meth-heads smoking cigarettes.

Every year, this state loses thousands of acres of land to wildfires. And we celebrate independence by firing pyrotechnics into dried grass. Because that makes sense. But let's not worry about little, unimportant questions like "physics." Instead, let's consider the realities of living in the 21st Century.

For example, a few years ago, we had the C-Student President, whose advisers felt we needed a permanent base in the Middle East. So he took us to war. Around 68 hundred American soldiers died for this idiotic attempt to flex our military muscle. But, more importantly for (but oddly related to) the following issue, 970,000 soldiers were damaged (mentally or physically) in the course of fighting in those two related wars.

I figured out, some years back, my own minor insanity. I have the mildest case of PTSD ever reported - I just get cranky and irritable when shit starts blowing up. Which, if you think about it, just qualifies more as "survival instincts" than truly being PTSD.

But here's the problem: explosions have somewhat lost their thrill for a certain percentage of the American populace.

Remember, more now than for any generation of American people in decades, when shit blows up, it doesn't make you want to stand proud. It reminds you of a time when you didn't have control. When your friends and comrades were getting killed around you, and there was nothing you could do.

There was a time when the Republican party celebrated the sacrifices of the American fighting forces. Now, they'd like to forget they exist.

But maybe, just maybe, you can remember them, just for this year. Every time you blow something up, you're reminding them of a time that they'd rather forget. Every firework you set off hurts someone in ways you can't begin to imagine. Be respectful of our troops.

Some of them sacrificed more than you think.

4 comments:


  1. This is something I hadn't thought about and thanks for the reminder.Since we've been independent of England for well over 200 years now, you'd think the thrill would have worn off, but then, I suspect most Americans don't know what the holiday is about. I have to wonder too about all the Federal Government hating Neo-Confederates in the South celebrating the USA but dreaming about the CSA.

    We actually have year-round fireworks supermarkets here, complete with the wire shopping carts for the Crackers to push down the aisles filling up with crackers and rockets and aerial bombs. As we're in the midst of a severe drought with tinder-dry woodlands all around. wildfires are definitely a concern. What a contrast with my former home state of Illinois where sparklers are seriously illegal along with strike-anywhere kitchen matches. Even the Winn-Dixie sells fireworks. The Yacht club I belong to has a canon and as usual they will fire it off this afternoon, God help us all.


    Some of my Cracdker neighbors like to start early and last night was the second night of his festivities and I think it's not only veterans who dislike being blasted out of bed at 2 AM. There some in the area who pass on the fireworks and like to stumble drunkenly around the trailer park with a 12 gauge firing into the air and even a few who use a rifle (duck!)

    I wish there was a holiday celebrating not having a war.

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  2. Thank you for your service, Nameless Cynic. I can't imagine what it must be like to hear the noise from fireworks and have it trigger the memory, again, of what you went through. Be well, my friend.

    Best wishes to all for a safe and mostly quiet, holiday.

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  3. sheeesh....I do not have enough money to blow it up. If I want fireworks.....I can talk with my ex....I still remember all the ignition words.

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