ACK ACK ACK ACK...

So the Hattiesburg American printed my letter...all right! The more the idea of "end the war" creeps into people's consciousnesses, the better...

A Blessing?

Saw a father of a wounded soldier on MSNBC talking about how it was a "blessing" for his son to be "given" to him twice (here's a link--this is probably the story, but I'm not sure since I didn't catch the guy's name on MSNBC)...I understand they're glad their son isn't dead, but for god's sake, he's lost both legs below the knee plus his right thumb. Even if the son makes miraculous progress in physical therapy and has a super-duper can-do attitude, it will still suck for him (the soldier) that he's an amputee with no thumb.

And I'm not sure that this soldier should be positive. Or he should be positive about the recovery part, but negative about the unnecessary war part. But these people tend to get this sort of treatment in our screwy media:

He lost both legs and a thumb fighting for our freedom in Iraq. He overcame adversity and is now the best-selling author of "Two Limbs And A Digit: An Inspiring Story Of Hope." He'll join us today for his overwhelmingly positive view on life post-amputation.

Then, when the guy is on the air, it's all positive or at least the question of why he was put in the position he was put in isn't brought up. So to the viewer/reader, the message delivered is "injured in war, now just fine...lost limbs for freedom, now just fine...war not that bad...war just fine...war causes wounds...wounds heal and are source of inspiration and book sales."

Whatever. I just thought it was a little propagandistic to show this father talking about how "blessed" he is that his son is a triple amputee (of sorts). I mean, why didn't the guy say "we're glad he's alive" or "we're glad he's still with us" or something like that. War wounds are not a blessing! They are a curse!

Again, my grandfather had a nervous breakdown in WWII. They said he was never the same. Yet my grandmother would say "I LOVE the military." That's like saying "I love prisons!" Both are necessary evils that we'd be better off without. Ugh.

The PX

So let's end the goddamn war already. I'm tired of going to Wal-Mart (yeah, I know) and having it look the PX. There're so many military people in there, and it weirds me out. I look at 'em and go--"Wonder how long he'll make it" and stuff like that. I'm tempted to go up to some of them and tell them I'm sorry that they're being shipped off to Iraq and I would like nothing more than for the war to end immediately. But I don't.

I just try not to look them in the eye.