|
I Thought It Would Be Harder This Time Of Year
by James Glaser December 30, 2010 
Having a loved one die in combat is hard any time of the year, but it just seemed to me that it is almost like a double loss if they die in the Christmas season. People look forward to Christmas. School age kids think of the presents. Parents think about their children and the fun they will have. Grandparents look forward to seeing their children and their grandchildren. People look forward to the Christmas season every year for many reasons. However, if Christmas is a reminder of when you lost your son or daughter, or your father or mother, or maybe a sister or brother, well then it becomes a perpetual time of sadness. Every death affects a large circle of loved ones and friends. So far in the month of December we have lost 31 of our troops in Afghanistan, and everyone of those deaths will be remembered for decades to come by those who have to live with the loss. You know, as I think about this, it really doesn't matter what time of year your loved one was killed, because no matter what day or month it was, the memory of that loss will put a hole in your calendar, and every year as that day draws near, you will dread thinking about what might have been. We are in our tenth year of this war in Afghanistan. Nobody from Afghanistan ever attacked our country. We were going there to capture Osama bin Laden, who was from Saudi Arabia, but he split out of there in the first month of the war. We have stayed there for the last 9+ years killing and being killed so we can "bring peace and democracy to that country," and no, I am not lying, because that is just what Washington wants us to believe, and it is unfortunately what millions of Americans believe. Thousands of American troops have been killed and maimed. Hundreds of thousands of our troops will suffer from brain injuries and PTSD for the rest of their lives. But the profits made by the defense industry will make many rich and powerful Americans richer. Some day those who lost a loved one and those who have a loved one suffering with a life long disability will realize that our troops and we were "had" by Washington and all those deaths and wounds were for the dollar. It is the same reason we fight every war we have... for the dollar. |
BACK to the 2010 Politics Columns.