I take a lot of pictures when on vacation and you never know when something you have seen will hit the news. I also like pictures of flags, American and otherwise. When I was escorting my son’s band around New York last spring I saw the Times Square military recruiting booth all lit up. This very small building sits on one of the triangular islands that define Times Square as Broadway narrowly crosses Seventh Avenue.
In order to keep up with the other gaudy Joneses in the neighborhood, the side of the building is decorated with a neon American flag. On a whim I took a picture of this glowing in all its glory at night. It stands as small outpost of patriotism in a sea of commercialism.
This recruiting station was the victim of a fairly ineffective terrorist attack from some unknown group with political motives. I have nothing but contempt for anyone that would attack a symbol of the United States in that way. We may not agree with our politicians and what they do with our armed services, but it is our duty as Americans to support and honor those that choose to serve our country.
I hope they catch these low-rent terrorists and expose them as the cowardly thugs that they are. The American flag stands for universal ideals and ever since Francis Scott Key saw the the bombs bursting in air, our flag has been a symbol for the home of the brave and the land of the free.
6 comments:
I agree. What cowards indeed.
I just posted about how my wife and son were across the street from there just 6 hours before it was bombed. Yikes.
I agree..
And my motto is..I support our troops..bring the boys/and girls back home.
But I never begrudge them because they are in a position that they were put in by a politician that I have no agreement with at all.
My fear is that this was an anti-war protest, and not an act of terrorism. That won't help either.
If it's an antiwar protest, I would agree that it's a very ineffective one. That said, when you say that "it is our duty as Americans to support and honor those that choose to serve our country," how much more a duty is it to call out those who would refuse to do so when it's their responsibility - such as the military "psychiatrists" who under pressure from higher-ups reclassify wartime injuries as pre-existing disorders in order to eliminate the need to provide support to soldiers. See this article and this one. As despicable as the actions of these folks might be, more despicable are the actions of those who lie and deceive to get impressionable kids to sign up for military service (this is also well documented), and more despicable still are those who would lead them to kill and die for petty political reasons, more despicable still are those who, safe at home, arrogantly proclaim that troops must fight the war with the weapons and armor they have, while soldiers' pay is still abysmal. In other words, there's a hell of a lot worse acts of non-support going on. And, given that the people responsible for such actions are for the most part not themselves soldiers or veterans, even more cowardly and thuggish. It is they who dishonor our flag and what it's supposed to stand for.
Yeah, this was a little weird and a lot of pointless.
I'm not in favor of the war by any means, but I definitely admire the people who are out there doing their thing for god and country, etc. not because it's right or wrong or whatever, but because that's what their nation asks of them. This is a huge turnaround from Vietnam, where returning soldiers were vilified because of the politics of the war.
2fs: I think the ability of people to bring shed light upon those who are in the system and fail to support the troops has increased, but we still have folks in charge who won't act unless they're under intense pressure from their constituencies. And that's the truly tragic part.
Recruiting is one of the least desired assignments in the military and the ethical tactics of some (many?) recruiters make the guys in Glengarry Glen Ross look like girl scouts. False promises by recruiters have been a joke since at least Private Benjamin.
That said, they are still soldiers doing an assigned if distasteful job and should not have their lives endangered by the very people they are defending.
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