about once a year i write a blog about my friend sam. he was my best friend in elementary and middle school, and we remained close through high school even though our paths didn't cross as much as either of us would have preferred. sam is a marine. he has been fighting in iraq since december of 2006. i have been lucky enough to maintain, at the very least, occasion contact with sam via facebook. in december when we went to the birmingham airport to pick up my sister and brother-in-law, i was surprised to run into sam coming home on furlough. i was exceptionally awkward in the encounter because i just could not believe he was there.it is no secret that i do not agree with the wars being fought by the united states in the middle east. i am a bit more of a pacifist than i was just a few years back and grow ever more so each day. i kind of feel like jesus meant turn the other cheek, and, as cliche as it is, when jesus said "love your enemies" he probably meant don't kill them.
but you will NEVER hear or read any words of mine that lambaste the men and women who are fighting in these wars. they are brave, and they are consistently in harm's way. it takes immeasurable courage to go out and fight a war, to volunteer your life so utterly.
my roommate blake and i have been watching an unhealthy amount of band of brothers, one of the most brilliant cinematic masterpieces i think has ever been attempted. it is a gritting, true look at the 101st airborne division (easy company) from world war two. every time we watch an episode, i think about sam. i think about the difficulty of every day life as a soldier. i think about how it must utterly suck to be so far away from home and comfort. i think about the courage it takes to get up some mornings.i said it last year when i wrote on this, and i'll say it again. sam is a hero. and sam gives me a face to think about in the midst of any criticism i may have about the war. seeing his face in my mind reminds me that war is not an abstract concept. it involves that concrete lives of many people, including people who are very dear to me.
so thank you sam.
1 comment:
not to mention that those fighting are also fighting FOR those in the middle east, in a way. and to protect us back in the US...and while i think the country as a whole has no right to fight simply for self-defense, the individual soldiers are often times fighting for a specific person. they are fighting because they love their neighbour.
when it comes to loving neighbours that are endangering one another, the third party has to choose which neighbour to love. does the third party (the soldier) let one neighbour die as another one attacks him/her, or does he defend the former neighbour from the neighbour that is attacking?
...complicated. peace all around would be best, but i too can support and advocate the bravery shown by our military men and women who are out there for the "right" reasons.
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