A Failure of Greatness

I wonder how the men and women in Iraq and Afghanistan feel with the focus off their daily grind and daily threat they face. You'd think from the media reports wars were no longer paid for in billions of dollars and the blood of our young. You'd think drones and bombs weren't killing innocents in both nations and places we aren't even aware attacks take place.
"Joystick patriots" send killer drones out to spy and kill every day and then go home to beers, families and television. And maybe video games to sharpen those skills they have to have to remotely kill. It must be a real rush to finally get to "light up" some damn "terrorist".
Every day, on average, one vet kills themselves. And when I tell people this they don't want to believe it. When I tell them vets are killing wives and kids they refuse to believe. They don't want to believe they are going to prison at high rates. Homeless more than the average population.
We never hear about the families in Basra or Fallujah still grieving their dead family members. Enduring the crippling wounds inflicted by American weapons. Developing strange illnesses resembling radiation poisoning.
We seldom hear about the rapes of young female troops by the other troops in their unit. Seldom hear about the rapes of young Iraqi or Afghan women by angry and arrogant occupiers. These war crimes seldom result in trials or convictions.
Americans don't want to believe we're still at war for all the wrong reasons. They are led to believe the troops are protecting this nation when and if the wars are even mentioned. They fail to understand we are the largest terrorist entity in the world. How else can you describe bombs, drones, rockets, white phosphorous, depleted uranium and toxic weaponry used against other humans? And we're always looking for better ways to kill.
I still try to wrap my head around the outcry by citizens whenever someone goes berserk and kills groups of people without reason. Where would they ever get such thoughts in America? Rampant gun supplies, constant wars, constant violence exposure through media, hate-mongering by racist radio hosts, hate by religious leaders....the moral breakdown of humanity. We say we're a Christian nation but Christ would be appalled at what is done in his name. Any concept of a loving god is belied by the reality of the hate and violence so prevalent in this nation.
The political drama and facade going on has taken center stage with all the lies and hateful rhetoric. Damn the troops. Damn the poor and hungry. Damn the frail. All we hear is the lies and attacks of shallow men and women who don't give a damn about this nation or the plight of the common person.
The wealthy bastards of Wall St., Goldman-Sachs, BOA, CITI, Chase and the DC beltway live in a bubble of insane greed that sucks the humanity from the marrow of their bones. Their God is Mammon, the god of the greedy. They are the money-changers Christ is said to have chased from the temple.
We should not be fooled into believing these crippled humans care about those dying in wars. Their sick minds are oblivious to the weak and needy. The failure of their souls doesn't allow them to care about the husbands and wives struggling to feed their kids and pay their rent or mortgage. Their hatefulness only allows them to use the issues of women's rights, gay rights and the return of Jim Crow as ways to divide those who struggle to make living wages. They vilify teachers and union members fearing they might educate and organize.
We should not be fooled into believing we are free and have rights as described by the Constitution. The individual has given way to the personhood of the corporation courtesy of the Supreme Court's total lack of integrity. Gridlocked Congresses and cowardly Presidents and legislators are tools of the military industrial complex and all the other special interests. The only special interest not being considered are the people of "we the people" so eloquently mentioned in the Preamble of the Constitution.
My mind wonders what the mothers and fathers of the troops must feel each day and night their sons and daughters are in the "kill zone" of our insane wars. What must the children and spouses feel with the empty place at the dinner table? How many struggle to sleep worrying about a phone call in the middle of the night.
I wonder how a mother and father must feel after a drone kills their child. How must the Iraqi family feel following the death of a mother at the hands of foreign troops? How does a new mother cope with a child born with horrible birth defects in the Fallujah region of Iraq?
I wonder about these things and why they fail to be mentioned in our daily conversations. It's clearly apparent we choose to forget and would rather go about considering this a great nation. I think of the words of a President who said a nation is only as great as the lives of the weakest citizens. Today, a nation is only as great as the way it treats all the citizens of the world. In that we have failed the test of greatness.