Sunday, May 24, 2009

We Remember??


Remember what, exactly? As I was taught, this is the day we commemorate the people (men, women, babies) who died in wars. We recall their sacrifice, isn't that it? OK dig:

I hear: "I don't support the war but I support our brave soldiers in Iraq" or thereabouts.

When I hear this I look for my lobotomy ice-pick and hope that person is using one. You WHAT???


You don't like fighting or killing, but you like the fighters and killers. Explain please. Explain explain explain.

How about "I don't support rape
but I baked cookies for our brave rapists." What's worse, killing or rape? What's the difference.

This should be "Educate Day" so people can understand the truth behind our high-sounding words in those sacrosanct documents we keep mummified in Washington, with the rest of the mummies.

While we're at it - instead of looking to the cartoon we call a President, why not discover who really runs this great brave biggest and baddest-on-the-block country, and the world for that matter. Google "Bilderberg Group" or Freemasons (our sainted forefathers) or just put aside the romance of war we've been programmed to "support" and just think a minute. Think:

You have a very few, perhaps 125 empowered monied elite, who control everything, they are butcher bankers and they are mostly the Bank of England which of course, still owns USA, Inc. When
you talk about soldiers you're not talking about real sacrifice. To make a sacrifice you must be fully informed before making that choice. No one sent to kill others and be killed has the complete knowledge base, they truly believe they're "doing it for my country" or "upholding the standards of liberty and justice" which, by the way, we never had.

When did this country have a true democracy? When? Do you see one in action anywhere in the world?


When was this country, or YOU for that matter, ever free?

When did the servants take back the power? I thought I've been awake since the 60's when we screamed "Peace now!" in the streets like idiot children. I thought I was helping, being pro-active, stopping war in the name of ....Liberty? Justice? Hell no, I was a teenaged hippie all I wan
ted was to rebel and piss off my parents - like all kids.

So they fight for freedom, right? Okay.

For whom?

When you bake cookies for a soldier, you help support the machinery that makes the war he or she is fighting possible. Yes even on that small scale. On ANY scal
e of support, you are saying "Kill the bastards, and come home safe." Irony of ironies!

You're part of the hot lead in that gun he holds to fire at his
brother the so-called enemy and misses him and hits his infant baby and in a father's rage he fires at you and splat you're dead and someone has to tell your mother it was all so brave, so just, all for democracy, all for liberties, all for the sacred trust he thought he entered into.

Bull crap. All I see is dead humans.

Don't look at me like that - I almost signed onto this insanity in 1969 when "Peace Now!" wasn't doing squat and I thought, "Gee if I was OVER there in Nam, maybe I could do some good." Yeah, I could make peace by supporting war. What a dance we do around this whole thing, eh?

Are you still dancing?

I could've killed someone. And they would've given me a freeking medal. Is that RIGHT????


They give medals.


They give folded flags to crying mothers, too.

What if we all just said "No". What if every human on this planet could come to an agreement that war only makes certain people very very rich and does nothing much else but cause blood to spill and we're just not having it anym
ore?

What if you could say "I don't support war, so I can't support the warriors who fight it" what if you could really mean that in your heart of hearts? Wouldn't something have to change? Wouldn't "they" have to stop the military industrial complex machinery and find other ways to keep getting r
icher?

It's not complicated, though they'd like you to believe it's beyond your socio-political grasp. But it's not. We can really have true
peace. We can keep our blood in our bodies.

Dare to think about it my friend. Peace, now.




21 comments:

Ana said...

Thank you very much for this post Cathy!
I think the same but I don't like to talk politics because being Brazilian I have to be very careful talking with my Americans friends.
I rather hear from you, Americans citizens, and publish at my blog what I think but in the voice of one of you.
I also admire Lennon.
Thanks for the photo too.
Ana

Ana said...

This is my first blog.
I'm not sure if you know it.
Love,
Ana

Cathy said...

Sure I know it Ana, and thanks for sticking with me all this time. I've been following your "Hella Heaven" with the picture you use that my brother took of that fire rainbow - very nice to do that, thank you Ana. Not many ppl ever see one, so I'm glad you chose it. And I like seeing YOUR face on your avatar now! As for admiring Mr. Lennon, good taste. As for politics, don't feel bad it can be a ponderous subject yes? Doesn't matter. Love you too.

Joann said...

Hi Cathy, We'll have to agree to DISagree on this one, k?

Coelha :B said...

I hope you are having a good weekend! :)

Anonymous said...

I agree with you.

I believe that individuals are responsible for their own actions, and the people following orders are as guilty as the ones giving them. Evil is evil, sin is sin, and wearing a uniform just doesn't figure into the equation.

Ana said...

I just did a post about "We Remember??"
Yes I'm using this photo that I first saw at your blog.
Thank you for that.
At my other blog, you have visited it, thank you, there is too much politics.
I created Hella Heaven to take a break because, Dear Lord, killing children to sell psych-drugs is criminal.
People are unaware for many things.
Love,
Ana

"Evil is evil, sin is sin, and wearing a uniform just doesn't figure into the equation."

Yes Thomas! I would like to publish it. But I don't want to create any sort of polemic.
I will remember this phrase.

tony said...

WELL SAID CATHY!!!! It's the same here in England.Sometimes I think Bush & Blair were punished for Losing The War rather than for Starting It.
(Im not sure why) but it reminds me of the Film "The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas" (have you seen it?).Which I Watched last night.Not that good a film (i thought) but it had This Idea that people can both create& maintain Hell yet-at the same time-morally distance themselves from it-It had Echos Of Iraq & Afganistan.All Hail The Fatherland!

Ana said...

Cathy,

(This is the answer I wrote you and I wanted you to read)

An old hippie?
My sister is five years older than me and she was a hippie.
I was I "little" hippie because of the age.
When Lennon was shot dead I was twenty years old.
I was going out and when I was just about to leave I hear on the radio.
I went walking on the streets and nothing made sense.
I'm quite political but I decided to dedicate my energy to mental health awareness and advocacy.
All people who are doing their blogs on this are doing politics.
People are killing and committing suicide because of these drugs.
This is criminal and for the moment I try to do my share here at this blog.
I published the post about your "Educate Day" at Hella Heaven because I'm digressing a lot here.
Love,
Ana

I'm very happy you've liked the photos at "Liverpool".
:)

DB said...

Cathy, I'm so glad to read this essay. "War is sweet to those who have never been in one" someone said. I have been aware of the "butcher/bankers" ever since I read "Captains and The Kings" by Caldwell. I have said that if you want to know who runs the Taliban or El Quaeda don't look in Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia, look in Austria or Switzerland. Two of the questions that are never asked are Where are the weapons coming from and Who is being paid for them. Kennedy called them "The Gnomes of Zurick."

I was also on the street in the 60s. What did we accoplish? Most befuddled Americans still insist that this country is a peace loving one, and yet we have been at war almost every year since before we were a nation, we have a natiohnal anthem that talks of guns and bombs and rockets, we have Army and Air Force forts all over the world, our Navy is in every major body of water, and our national symbol is a cruel and predatory bird. We keep the peace by blowing people up.

Don't get me stsrted. Oh, I'm already started.

Thank you Cathy. DB

Cathy said...

And thank you, DB my friend. It was the Dulce Bellum Experts - but they said "War is sweet to those who HAVE experienced it" when of course, we know the opposite is true - however, they fight for Allah so everything that spells martyrdom is "sweet", and war certainly is a martyr's bloody game. Yes, the rockets red glare - and the babies' red blood eh? JFK certainly knew exactly who was paid and getting paid, didn't he - look what he got for his knowledge. So obviously, these ideas are dangerous, DB. We're supposed to have every part of our bodies saluting the flag right now (bad joke) but I'm greatly eased to see someone else has the cajones to tell it like it really is in this corporation called USA. Hey I think I saw you out there in 1969, weren't you the one yelling "free love" to that hooker? LOL luv ya man.

Cathy said...

oops meant to say JFK knew who was getting LAID and getting paid, no less who was paying. War certainly is a barter system isn't it. You give me your live, I'll give your mom a flag.

DB said...

Cathy, the quote I was trying to remember is "War is sweet for those who have not tried it" Erasmus.

The hooker was not pleased with my remark.

DB

Diane J Standiford said...

Is war/fighting built into our DNA? We can't seem to stop. What brings people together is a common enemy. If killing-machine aliens landed tomorrow, then the world would live as one.Our common enemy SHOULD be WAR. Sanctioned murder and torture in the name of God and country. Can we watch others die and do nothing? Are some military actions warranted? Lots of healing needed since Bush shocked and aw shucked. But too much hype that all soldiers are heroes and medals for being shot. The 1960s...we had to stop the senseless killing, we thought we could give power to the people...we dared imagine...too few dreamers.

Herrad said...

Hi Cathy,

I agree with you.

I believe that individuals are responsible for their own actions.

The people following orders are as guilty as the ones giving them.

We need to start co existing with each other with love and care.

Love,

Love,
Herrad

Trees said...

I find it hard to comment on this entry, we always here "give peace a chance", that is a blatant joke. The fat cats of the world thrive on war, in my opinion, it boosts their pockets. My parents fought in World War II. My Mom lost her first husband in that war, the day the armistice was signed. My dad I am sure came out with some scars. If I have to sit here and try to make sense of these wars, for the life of me I cant, suffice to say, I doubt whether we will ever have world peace, to many thrive on wars as it makes their filthy rich pockets richer.

Cathy said...

Yes, dear friend Trees ((#)) it is for such as you that I spoke of the dichotomy of war. You want to feel pride in a loved-one's going to battle. But you feel something else entirely when they don't return. We either fight, die and let our children fight again, or stop the whole process - let the butchering rich bastards find another way to stay rich.

Richie said...

thanks for the sense talked
it is impossible to create the kind of world I want to live in by force or compulsion so all violence appals me because it can only do harm
mutual aid- the way forward!

Lucy said...

Thank you Cathy for directing me here. You speak the truth. I do the same but it does not sit well with some people. I used to get my feelings hurt and not blog but I don't do that anymore.

Alan said...

“he’s five 5’ 2’’ and he’s six feet four he fights with missiles and with spears, he’s all of twenty one and he’s only seventeen, been a soldier for a thousand/s years. …. And he knows he shouldn’t kill and he knows he always will kill for me my friend and me for you.”

Gerry said...

I think this is a very courageous post and it evoked some strong responses. When I encountered violence as a young adult I thought well, here is a person sticking a knife in my hand and saying agree to kill or I will kill you. While my young husband was in the service I had to go up against this policy by telling his commanding officer he was cracking up, was suicidal and extremely violent. I mentioned that I was a pacifist who did not believe in war, and he thought I said he was and bristled that if he had a soldier who believed in non violence his response would be to send him right straight to Korea. I said, no, that is my philosophy and I think when my husband kills himself he will take me with him, which is why I am leaving him. I said he is worse the service, more dangerous because he cannot handle the philosophy of war. The Mormon Chaplain didn't think his commanding officer had been reached and wanted me to go down town to file a complaint. At his behest I went to the district attorney's office and when I finally talked to him I made the mistake of saying I recognized the signs of mental illness in my soldier husband because I had been in a psych ward. The district attorney sent for my husband, asked him if he did what I said he did, and he always lied and he said no. So I was put under guard and locked up in a psych war for a week even though I had a two month baby at home I had just left for a couple of hours with my sister. I know what can happen to you when you fight the military establishment to save your own life. The philosophy of war has to bring out the insanity in people, in soldiers, in movie makers, in politicians, in everyone who buys it and defends it. I went home and his commanding officer thought it over and let him out on a hardship discharge in a few months. He came out still extremely suicidal, but it saved him from doing it then, I am convinced.