Remembrance day

My dad was a veteran in WWII. I’m writing this because we both value/d truth.

This is to honor my dad and our shared truth about war. He enlisted, my dad, even though he had a young family, because he despised fascism. Like many pre-war lefties he attended anti-fascist rallies and marches. And yes, he was eyed later on by the vile McCarthy-ites. He was also wounded in service. He never advocated the overthrow of democratically elected governments – or any governments.

He tended to define himself as a Jeffersonian. He died in 2005 and up to the end we agreed on the slide of America and the West toward neo-fascism.

He would hate the saccharine sentiments that seek to switch the focus of remembrance day away from the futility of war and onto those who are thrown into it to serve the vested interests of the industrial-military complex, of feeble politicos who revere the new-found government mission to be re-defined as an arms trader.

My dad was a veteran. He hated war. Don’t you dare include him in your misplaced memories. If ALL soldiers, ALL, whatever side they’re on … refused to fight. Well, could we get peace? We could make it happen. They could make it happen. Wise folk say, history was made by man, and it can be changed by men [they also meant women!]

War is a euphemism for other people getting rich – people whose bodies and internal organs don’t get blown apart because they’re deemed more worthy of security and protection than the human fodder brain-washed to follow orders. Hitler’s army was convinced it was right.

Unless they’re demented past reason, no one in their right mind wants war. We have NOT always had war. Stop believing such bullshit by those who seek to polarise, to pit people against each other rather than find common ground. If you want to wear a significant poppy, maybe pick that white one which honors conscientious objection. Please try not to seek the worst of our kind, but to be the link to the rest. Meanwhile, I’ll keep remembering my dad.

Categorised in: Article

This post was written by outRageous!