John Stuart Mill is arguably one of the greatest philosophers of all time. In the 19th century he wrote:
"War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse."
(Source: @majbc A Major's Perspective)
Former President Bush intentionally adopted a strategy to separate the U.S. population from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Consequently, largely only the families of those serving share the pain and suffering. Whether these wars were justified is not the question or an acceptable excuse to treat this war as an "outsourced" event. Without a draft and with most WW II veterans dying off and Vietnam veterans aging, little of the U.S. population understands war first hand. We may have become the nation John Stuart Mill describes in the quote above.
Oddly enough the U.S. military understands this point. Military strategists are very concerned that the U.S. population could not withstand a war if there were, for example, large domestic power outages for a period of six months. We might capitulate to get back our creature comforts. Remember only 100 Americans (the U.S. Senate) have to vote to surrender.
I see many returning veterans now at FIU. Many of these veterans need extra help in many forms. Embrace them, support them and thank them. It's your chance to receive a little bit of understanding and find the courage to persevere.
CM
Miami, FL
