Respecting our Veterans
Last week, presidential candidate Donald Trump took issue with a description of Sen. John McCain as a “war hero”. Trump suggested that Sen. McCain, who was shot down over Hanoi and subsequently spent 5 ½ years of his life in a Vietnamese prison camp, was only being called a hero because he had been captured. Trump noted that he preferred “people who weren’t captured”.
Folks who know me well will tell you that I always do my best to see both sides of any argument before I decide where I am going to come down. Experience has shown me that very few issues in life are as clear-cut as they may seem to be at first blush, so it’s important to make sure that all facts have been gathered and properly considered before passing judgment. No matter how ridiculous an argument may seem, there is always a possibility that once you get past the initial impression, the argument may hold some merit. With those thoughts in mind, I have spent more than a few minutes considering the comments made by Donald Trump. I’ve thought, I’ve pondered, I’ve read and I’ve even Googled. I’ve looked for any rational explanation for how it is that a man with enough business sense to accumulate billions of dollars in personal wealth could say something so offensive. I’m still looking.
Any person who has ever put on a uniform and sworn to “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” deserves to be called a hero. Our servicemen and women dedicate years of their lives to the defense of our country and its citizens. They leave their homes, their friends and their families for months and sometimes years at a time, traveling thousands of miles to hostile foreign lands where they risk their lives every single day. They witness friends being killed by a sniper’s bullet, or dismembered by a roadside bomb. They live every minute of every day with the knowledge that the next bullet or the next IED could be for them. I can’t imagine the courage it takes to get up and function each day in the face of that sort of danger.
In my mind, any person who makes personal sacrifice for the greater good is a hero. There can be no greater sacrifice than that made by the members of our military and their families. My Dad, who served in WWII was a hero. So was my Uncle Junior, who earned a Purple Heart in that war. So are George Lewis, Dave Ealy, B.B. Smith, Kevin Cecil, Jimmy Whorton, Jim Matthews, John Mercer, and every other man and woman who has ever worn the uniform of our great nation.
We owe our veterans a debt that is far greater than we can ever repay. We owe them our respect, our admiration, and our loyalty. Donald Trump owes them more than that. He owes them an apology.
